Wolf's Den - Roasted Squirrels
by Stormswift
Summary: Embry's life 14 years after his first phasing: He has a job to hold down, a pack to lead, a difficult mother to please, a mute imprint to save from her abusive father and a large vampire coven with ominous gifts to defeat. Sleep is totally overrated. - Rated M for abuse, rape and torture. Now COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own anything recognizable from the Twilight universe._

* * *

**Autumn Hunt**

I was watching the smooth waves on Lake Crescent while I waited for the school kids to arrive. I was a park ranger in Olympic National Park and today it was my task to first make a small hiking tour with these kids and go canoeing on the lake afterwards. They were from La Push, which was good, because for once I wouldn't have to fight for respect. In La Push, everyone knew that I was older than I looked like. Although we still kept our biggest secret, our tribe trusted and respected us. They had stopped asking why we didn't age.

I looked back at the last 14 years and sighed. 14 years of phasing. 14 years of vampire hunt. 14 years of lying to a million people, especially Mom. We had a complicated relationship. She yelled at me a lot and complained that she, being my mother, deserved to know the secret. Nevertheless she hated it when I didn't visit her at all. When I stayed away for too long she sometimes even apologized and begged me for coming around. I didn't always stay away on purpose. I simply had a lot to do. I had my job to do and I had a pack to lead. Yes, you haven't misread: I, Embry Call, have become the Alpha, well, the deputy Alpha, to be correct.

One and a half years after the encounter with the Volturi the Cullens left Forks. They had to move on as people started to notice that they didn't age and that Nessie on the other hand aged faster than humanly possible. Jacob went with them of course and for a short time the two packs were reunited under Sam's leadership. But then Sam and Jared both decided to stop phasing in order to age together with Emily and Kim. Paul and Leah wanted to stop phasing, too, but they didn't have the phasing under control yet. With Sam and Jared, his Beta, gone we needed a new Alpha. Nobody of us had the Alpha in his blood like Jacob or in his build and in his personality like Sam. Jacob rejoined the pack to become the official Alpha, but he stayed with the Cullens so we only had the mental connection and phone calls to link with him. We needed someone who would decide if quick decisions had to be made. Thus I became the elected deputy Alpha. Why they voted for me? I have no idea! I mean, I used to be the third-in-command in Jake's pack, but Leah was second and Paul was Sam's third. Anyway, those two managed to stop phasing two years later.

Paul and Rachel then moved to Seattle. They have a nine-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter. They visit for a weekend every six weeks. Leah lost the last remains of her bitterness when her menstruation restarted together with her aging. She married a Makah fisherman. They have eight-year-old twin daughters, one of which was imprinted on by Collin, and a one-year-old son. Together with Seth Leah runs a restaurant in La Push. When the Cullens left, they presented the siblings with it for their friendship and loyalty, well, they presented it mostly to Seth I think. It's going quite well and it has become the pack's meeting point. Seth is my Beta. Like me he hasn't imprinted yet. But that didn't mean that we didn't have girlfriends now and then. The problem was that they always started to ask _the_ question. A relationship only worked if there were no secrets, that's what all of them said. Sometimes Seth and I wondered if they only dated us because they wanted to know the secret and not because they liked us. Every girl wants to stay young, so they wanted to know our fountain of youth.

Sam and Emily have a son, Adrian, and a daughter, Emma. Adrian is ten and he's supposed to become the next Alpha. Emma is three years younger. Jared and Kim also have two children, two sons, aged four and six.

Brady imprinted around the time when Leah stopped phasing. Brianna was six years old at that time. One year ago they started dating. Only a few weeks after their first date Brianna was killed by a vampire. We came a second too late to rescue her. Brady ripped the vampire into a million pieces – hell, that was some tough work to collect them all! We haven't seen him since that night. He left into the woods like Jake did when he tried to get over Bella. The mental connection remained, but he doesn't like us to ask questions about his constitution. As far as we know, he hasn't phased back once since that fateful night. His thoughts give away that he's adjusting more and more to the behavior of an animal. He is an emotional wreck, a complete mess and I fear he's losing the last bit of humanity that is left inside of him.

Collin is sad about the departure of his best friend of course, but his own imprint, little Nelly, keeps him busy and makes him happy again. Quil stopped phasing some months before Brianna died and is currently dating seventeen-year-old Claire who has become quite a pretty girl.

Leah lives in a flat that's located above the restaurant. Since Sue moved in with Charlie after their marriage six years ago, Seth invited Quil and me to live with him in the Clearwater house.

Now what became of the seven puppies that joined the pack just before the encounter with the Volturi? They aren't puppies anymore, that's for sure. Leonard and Cory both imprinted and stopped phasing a few years ago to grow old with them. Quil and Cory are attending High School again to make people think that they actually are the age they look like. That's what they'll say if you ask. But actually they attend High School to spend a lot of time with their imprints and to watch out for any potential rivals.

Simon has also imprinted, but she's only eleven, so he'll stay with the pack for a few more years. Chad, Zack, Skyler and Aaron haven't imprinted. Thus "my" pack consists of seven other wolfs right now. I wish Zack would imprint soon. He can be so annoying! He's a philanderer and a douche bag, breaks hearts every week and ditches patrol every now and then. Plus, he is Paul's cousin and therefore has the same Lahote hot temper. Maybe an imprint could tame him like Rachel tamed Paul.

The school bus pulled onto the parking lot and I snapped out of my thoughts. Leonard, who is the sports teacher at Quileute tribal school, and another teacher descended from the bus. I bro-hugged Leonard.

"Hey, Lennie. You're late."

"Yeah, sorry. You know, you always have to wait for late students. But now we're here, ready to go."

The students left the bus as well, chatting briskly with each other.

"Hi, uncle Embry!" Olivia, Cory's imprint, hugged me.

"Hi, Olivia. What's up?" I asked while I hugged her back. Cory was right behind her and complained:

"Oh, come on, Liv, you can stop to call him uncle! You look as old as him! What will other people think?"

"As if you would care what other people think!" She pulled another girl from behind her forward, "Uncle Em, this is my new best friend Autumn. She moved from Port Angeles to La Push this summer."

I met the girl's eyes and the world just stopped turning. She had the black hair and the russet skin of a Native American, but emerald green eyes. There was some distant sadness in them. Her mouth was perfect and held a small smile. Her hair fled in waves over her shoulders down to her waist, like black silk. She looked down self-consciously and Lennie elbowed me fiercely in the ribs. He whispered under his breath, only for me and Cory loud enough to hear:

"Despite the fact that you just imprinted and that you are understandably surprised and stunned, could you try to compose yourself? New imprints tend to be scared away by staring!"

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Nice to meet you, Autumn. Already settled in in your new home?"

Autumn, what a strange name. But I liked it. It was special, just like her. She looked up again, kept smiling and nodded. Not very talkative, my imprint, wasn't she?

I led the students onto the hiking trail. Lennie accompanied me in the front, whereas the other teacher brought up the rear to watch that no student fell too far behind. Cory, Olivia and Autumn went right behind us.

"How's Ava?" I asked Lennie. Ava was his imprint.

"Good. I just wish she'd go to our tribal school instead of Forks High. Sometimes when I drop her off in the morning I see her head to a couple of guys and I'm sure there must be some who are interested in her, cause she's such a natural beauty. But she always assures me that even if they were I'd still be the only one for her. It's two more years before we can go to college together. I can't stand that."

"I think you don't have to worry about rivals. A blind man could see that she's head over heels in love with you."

"And how long will that last? Her parents are still giving her a hard time because they think I'm too old for her. And her best friend doesn't like me either. With so much negative input from everyone she loves she has to be unhinged someday, doesn't she?"

"Bella got a lot of negative input, too, but she stayed with the leech. Don't worry, somehow it's going to work out."

Behind us, one of the students shouted:

"Hey, autumn hunt! Already found a trail to track? Where's your hunting horn?"

His friends laughed.

"Shut up, Lahote!" Olivia exclaimed and then whispered, "Just ignore him, he's a creep!"

"Lahote?" I asked Lennie quietly.

"Dave."

"That's Zack's little brother, right?"

"Yup. And he's as bad as him. The worst bully of the school. And with that name your imprint is the perfect victim for him."

We were still talking so quietly that Autumn and Olivia couldn't understand a word.

"Wait. Do you mean her last name is Hunt? What kind of parents name their kid Autumn Hunt?"

He shrugged.

"It's good that Olivia ministers to her. Autumn doesn't speak."

I raised my eyebrows.

"You mean she doesn't speak up for herself."

It was more like a question.

"No. I meant what I said. She doesn't speak at all. Her father told the principal that her Mom died this spring and that she hasn't said a word since. That's also the reason she moved. She used to live with her Mom and now she moved in with her Dad. They were divorced."

I was grateful that Lennie told me so much about my imprint without me even asking for it. I wished I could speak to her though.

After a four hour hike we arrived back at the lake and sat down at picnic benches for lunch. Unfortunately Olivia pulled Cory and Autumn away from Lennie and me. She didn't want to be seen sitting with the teacher. After lunch I distributed life jackets among the students and told them to team up with one or two class mates and get a canoe. I saw Olivia chatting Autumn up, but she just shook her head decisively and finally went back to the picnic benches. Olivia watched her hesitantly, then shrugged and got into the canoe in which Cory already sat. Lennie took a canoe with the other teacher and while the students started to paddle towards the center of the lake I went back to Autumn.

"Don't you like canoeing?" She shook her head.

"Why? Ever done it before? It's fun!" She answered the second question with another shake of the head.

"If you haven't done it before, then how do you want to know that you don't like it?"

She looked past me at the canoes on the lake and I could see fear in her gorgeous eyes. I asked softly:

"Are you afraid?"

She looked back at me, caught, and nodded slightly.

"Of what? You are able to swim, aren't you?" Another shake of the head.

"No? Well, we've got to change that eventually. I'll tell you something. You can canoe with me. You have a life jacket on which would hold your head above the water if you fell into the lake. No swimming needed, I would come and get you. That won't be necessary though, cause I promise that the canoe won't capsize. Okay? You don't want your new class mates to think that you're a coward, right? I know you aren't."

She breathed in and out heavily and looked me in the eyes. I tried to look back encouragingly and comfortingly. Finally she nodded.

I helped her into the canoe and pushed us off the landing stage.

"Now, this is really easy. Just plunge the paddle in the water. The blade should be completely under the surface. Then you pull it towards you, take it out of the water and plunge it in in the front again. Give it a try."

I watched her and adjusted my stroke to match hers.

"Great. That's it. Shall we stay close to the shore for the beginning?"

She nodded gratefully. Sometime later I saw a canoe departing from the main group.

"Ugh. I should go after them. Ready to leave the closeness of the shore and gain some speed?"

She looked back at me doubtfully.

"I'm sorry. But they're not allowed to leave the main group and Lennie – Mr. Crawford – and your other teacher seem to not notice. I promise you're safe inside this canoe. Now, take your paddle inside."

She sighed and did that. Then she grabbed hold of the boat's sides. I made quicker and stronger strokes and picked up speed. We approached the rule breakers soon after. They groaned when they noticed us. One of them looked a lot like Zack, just not as tall and bulky.

"Dave Lahote. Rebellious like your brother, aren't you?"

"Zack? Rebellious? If he was rebellious he wouldn't be a follower of your stupid protectors group."

"Whatever. Back to the group. Now."

"Really? You can't force us." He pushed his paddle against our canoe so that it reeled heavily. Autumn froze and clung to the boat's sides.

Had I said earlier that I wouldn't have to fight for respect today?

"Oh, yes, I can. But maybe you want to think about it again. I can force you back to the group or you go back willingly. Which choice is less humiliating?"

"I still don't know how you wanna force us."

There was a rope at every end of the canoe to tie it to the stage. I quickly grabbed one of theirs, tied it to our hind rope with a knot that an ignoramus isn't able to unfasten and paddled towards the main group. At first, Dave struggled to unfasten the knot, unsuccessfully. Then they tried to paddle into the other direction, but although they outnumbered me I still had enough strength to get us into the correct direction. When I reached the main group I tied their canoe to Lennie's.

"Can you watch these guys more carefully this time?"

"Sure. Sorry. We should head back to the shore anyway, shouldn't we?"

"Yes, it's time."

As we made our way back – Autumn paddled again now – I said:

"Sorry about that. I would have liked to overturn their canoe for scaring you, but as the authority I couldn't. I hope you enjoyed the rest of the boat trip."

She nodded.

"There's a bonfire at First Beach this Friday. It's only for invited guests and I hereby invite you. Will you come? Olivia and Cory are going to come, too."

She didn't answer right away.

"Well, think about it."

When the students entered the bus later, Dave elbowed his way to Autumn and whispered to her:

"Now I understand. You've been on the hunt for a guy! But, seriously, Autumn, Embry Call? You know he's, like, twice as old as you, don't you? I'm curious how you caught him without saying a word. I always thought winter was the most frustrating season of the year, but a silent autumn must be really soul-destroying."

I could tell she was on the verge of crying. I was angry with Lahote, but I didn't start shaking, not even the slightest bit. I was in complete control of my body. I wanted to tell him off though and made a step towards the bus. Lennie held a hand against my chest and stopped me.

"If you jump in for her you'll only make it worse. Don't worry, he'll get some serious punishment for today. It's an unwritten law that every pack member has to protect the imprints of the others. That means, Zack has to protect Autumn. He'll tell his brother to leave her alone."

"Zack is not the most law-abiding person I know. He'll say that words don't harm her and that therefore his brother isn't a threat to her. Lee, I swear, if he bullies her again, I'll poleax him!"

"No, you won't. Cause if you do he might phase. Before the summer vacation he was smaller and more slender. I'm not completely sure, but I think he's making _the _growth spurt. He must have started about two or three weeks ago. So prepare yourself to possibly have another Lahote in the pack before this year ends."

I groaned.

"No! Seriously? Nobody phased for 13 years and now it's him of all people?"

"Seems so."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Actually I wanted to be sure first. And I thought Zack would tell you. He must have noticed it, too."

"That scalawag isn't good for anything!"

"Sorry, Embry. Maybe you should call Jake to come around and talk some sense of duty into him. But think about the good point of Dave's possible phasing: When he's a member of the pack, you or Jake can order him to leave Autumn alone."

"Yeah. That's a good point. I hope my weak alpha voice is stronger on him than on Zack."

The drawback about being an elected Alpha was that I couldn't Alpha command the others like Sam and Jake. Not that I was eager to use it – Zack was usually the only one I'd like to force to obey sometimes. I was able to Alpha command the lowest ranked wolves and those who didn't fight the order, but Zack was in the middle of the hierarchy and always fought orders.

"I thought it's become stronger already?"

"Yeah, but not strong enough for Zack."

"Anyway, I've got to go. See you at the Den tonight?"

"Sure. You'll watch over my imprint for me, won't you?"

"Of course."

He boarded the bus.

* * *

_Please tell me what you think!_

___I know this isn't your average imprint love story and I guess I disappointed some readers by making some of your favorite wolves retire or move away. Most authors who set their story this far into the future tend to forget that the imprinted wolves would probably want to age with their imprint. Plus I think they wouldn't want strangers to think that they're the brother rather than the father of their children. So that's why I banned them from the pack. However, I can promise that Jake, Leah, Sam and Paul will play major roles in this story nonetheless._

_I've already finished this story, but I don't want to upload everything at once. I'm probably going to upload one chapter per day.  
_

_I'm not a native speaker, so please bear with me. I hope there aren't too many mistakes. Tell me if I'm making the same mistake(s) over and over again. Please PM me if you'd like to beta read for me!  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_I know I said I'd update once a day, but I was kind of afraid that the first chapter wouldn't be enough to raise your curiosity for the rest of the story. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

**Drunkards**

I went into the ranger station and did some paperwork before I signed out. I drove home and went for a quick run around the borders of the res to check for any signs of vampires. Seth was the only one on patrol right now.

'Hey, Em. How was work?'

'Something very, very good and something bad happened.'

'Bad news first, please.'

'Dave Lahote is worse than his brother. And Lennie thinks he's making a growth spurt in combination with muscle gain.'

'You're kidding! Nobody has joined the pack since the Volturi left!'

'Yeah. Let's hope it's false alarm.'

'And the good news?'

'I'm afraid you might not consider them that good. But for me they're great.'

'Don't keep me in suspense! Spit it out already.'

'I imprinted!'

I could hear the inner struggle in his thoughts.

'Well, that's great. Congrats, bro!'

'Thanks. I'm sure someday you'll find her, too.'

'Yeah. Hope springs eternal. Now, tell me about her. How old is she?'

'About Olivia's age. She's in her class.'

He moaned.

'What?'

'That means you'll leave the pack soon to grow old with her!'

'So? Maybe you'll become Deputy Alpha then.'

'I don't want to be. Beta is just fine for me. And with Zack and possibly Dave I really don't want to have to fight for authority. I want you to stay!'

'Collin and Aaron will help you. Relax, I think I can stay in the pack for another year or so.'

He breathed out in relieve.

'Thank God. If only Adrian could be ready already.'

'Don't count on him. He doesn't have to phase. You know the generation before ours didn't phase either.'

'Yeah, I know. But still. Can we have dinner now? No signs of vampires right now.'

'Okay.'

We ran to the Den and phased back just before we left the shelter of the trees. The _Wolf's Den_ was Seth's and Leah's restaurant. We crossed the main room which was crowded with half tourists, half Quileute and entered a smaller back room where our pack members already waited. Lennie, Quil and Sam were also there, along with Adrian, Emma and Leah's twins June and Janelle. I could hear Claire help Leah and Emily in the kitchen.

"Hey, guys. Jared and Kim not coming tonight?"

"No. They went to see a movie with the boys", Sam answered.

"And where's John? I didn't see him at the bar."

Leah's husband never ate with us. He always sat at the bar, ate and left or stayed and got himself drunk. Sam shot John's daughters a short look and muttered under his breath:

"He's drunk already. Leah sent him upstairs."

"It's getting worse, isn't it?"

"Yup."

Just then we heard someone descend the stairs that led to the flat in the second story. A furious Leah struggled to keep her voice low enough that the guests in the main room won't hear her.

"What do you think you're doing? You've had enough!"

Janelle buried her face in Collin's chest and Seth offered June a comforting hug.

"Leave me alone, shrew! I need more whiskey!" John slurred.

"Well, but that won't be our whiskey! You're not going to ruin us by drinking all the alcohol! Just leave and buy yourself your own!"

She pushed him out the back door and slammed the door shut. Seconds later there was a lot of noise from the kitchen. It sounded as if some sheet-metal bowls had been thrown or dropped. A baby, Jayden most probably, started crying.

"Leah, calm down!" Emily ordered. Seth got up and hurried into the kitchen. We could hear him stop dead in his tracks.

"Woah, Leah, you're shaking!"

Sam and Quil locked eyes and got up, too. That was the intuitive urge to protect their imprints who could get hurt if Leah phased.

"Well spotted! Just give me a sec", Leah begged. Someone collected the bowls and Seth returned.

"Give him to me", Leah demanded and then cooed at Jayden to calm him down.

"Shhh, Sweetie, Mommy didn't mean to scare you."

Seth whispered:

"One more fight and she's going to phase!"

"I heard that", she yelled. Then she, Emily and Claire came in and placed huge bowls of spaghetti onto the table.

"But you might be right", Leah admitted. Claire sat down next to Quil and Emily and Leah returned into the kitchen to cook for the other guests. I turned to Zack.

"How's your brother, Zack?"

He looked up at me suspiciously.

"Fine, I think. Why?"

"I had the pleasure of meeting him today." My voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Oh, I assume he showed his best side then." Zack said ironically.

"Yes. Tell me, Zack, is Dave working out?"

"Oh, yes. You noticed that? I think his abs is quite wimpy. He's jealous of mine and started working out with his friends this summer."

I watched Zack carefully to figure out the amount of truth in his words. Was that really true? Or was it what Zack really thought was true and Lennie was actually right? Or was Zack lying, did he know that Dave would become a wolf? I wasn't sure, but I thought Zack spoke the truth – or what he thought was the truth. That gave me hope. Maybe Dave really was working out and just grew like any other teenage boy.

"When are you going to announce the big news, Embry?" Seth asked and Lennie agreed, "Yes, right, Embry, isn't there something you've got to tell the others?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright. Here's the news: I imprinted today!"

"Finally!" Quil said.

"Congrats!" Sam said.

"How old is she?" Aaron asked anxiously.

What was with these guys and the age of my imprint?

"About Olivia's age. Don't worry, you'll have to endure my leadership another year or so."

"Just one year? Come on, give us two at least! Nobody would care if you look younger than her anyway, cause everyone knows that you're actually several years older!"

"We'll see."

"Who is it? Do we know her?" Sam asked.

"Her name is – don't you dare laugh – Autumn Hunt. She came to the res this summer to move in with her Dad after her Mom died."

Zack chuckled at her name and I glared at him. He composed himself immediately.

"Hunt?" Chad asked, "They really consider him able to care for her? He's a drunkard, even worse than John! If I remember right, his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence."

Chad worked at the police station in Forks and knew a lot about the people's criminal background.

"Are you sure?"

My Autumn couldn't live with such a creep.

"He's the only Hunt I know."

Leah came in with drinks and said:

"He's a friend of John. Seriously, that guy shouldn't have the responsibility for a child. Can't you inform the Child Protective Service, Chad?"

I was shocked. This couldn't be true. Autumn just lost her Mom and has to live with her rowdy Dad now? No wonder she didn't speak. I got up. My spaghetti would have to wait. I needed to save her now. I didn't have a plan, but somehow I had to make sure that her father didn't hurt her.

"If you let me finish my meal", Chad said, "I'll come with you. You know you can't just kidnap her."

I hesitated. But he was right, so I sat down and finished my spaghetti quickly. When I was finished, Chad wasn't yet.

"Come on, hurry up, Chad!"

He rolled his eyes. Finally we were ready to go. We got into Chad's truck and he drove to Hunt's house. It was a very small one-story house, actually more like a hut.

"Let me speak, okay?" Chad demanded while he knocked. I nodded. A rather small bald man with a beer belly opened the door and looked up to us.

"Yeah?" he grunted.

"Mr. Hunt, I'm police officer Sykes. We've heard that your daughter moved in with you."

"So what? That's not your business."

"Due to your background, it is. We consider involving the Child Protective Service. But maybe you can convince us that you've worked on your aggression and drinking problems and are able to care for your daughter. Would you let us in? We need to talk to your daughter as well."

"Fine. Though I'm curious how you want to talk with a mute", he grunted. What an unfriendly man.

"Autumn!" he yelled. I wondered why he had to yell like that. This house really wasn't that big. He invited us in. Through an open door to the right we had a look into a messy bed room. Ahead of us was a closed door and to the left there was a small, but clean kitchen to which he lead us. Autumn came out of the closed door.

"Okay, Mr. Hunt", Chad said, "I'll ask you some questions and my colleague here will interview your daughter. Autumn, is it alright for you to go to your room with him? So you can talk in private?"

She seemed confused, but she nodded and went back to her room, where she obviously just came from. I closed the door behind me. It was a very small room with just enough room for a bed, a desk and a closet. She motioned to her desk chair for me to sit and sat down on her bed.

"Hello, Autumn. I can see that you're confused. My friend is a police officer. I'm not, but he thought you would be more open if someone you know talks to you. Your father had some encounters with the police in the past and we are a bit concerned that he might not be able to care for you properly."

She frowned.

"Let's start with something simple: His bed room is a mess, but the kitchen is clean. Do you keep the kitchen clean?"

She nodded.

"Do you do the cooking as well?"

She nodded again, but more hesitantly this time.

"What about the bathroom? Do you clean that one as well?"

Another nod. I saw a wolf calendar at her wall and smiled.

"Do you like wolves?"

She smiled slightly and nodded. I motioned to the calendar.

"Would you show me the day on which your father was drunk the last time?"

Her smile faded immediately. But she got up and pointed to one of the 30 blank fields.

"Yesterday? How many times a week is he drunk?"

She hesitated.

"You can trust me, Autumn. I only want the best for you."

She held one hand up and spread out all the fingers.

"Five times? Well, that's often."

She shrugged.

"How is he, when he's drunk? Does he get angry quickly? Does he beat you?"

She hesitated, then shook her head. I wasn't completely sure if she was still being honest.

"Okay. Now, the next questions are the most important and I need you to be completely honest, alright?" Nod.

"Do you want to stay with your father?" She nodded, no hesitation this time.

"So you're happy here?" There it was again, the hesitation before a slight nod.

"Alright. If you like to stay with your father, we're not going to separate you from him. But don't hesitate to tell me if you change your mind. This is my cell phone number. You can text me or you call me and I'll know that it's you if nobody answers."

I wrote my number on a note sheet and handed it to her.

"Have you thought about the bonfire? Are you coming?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

I knew she wouldn't answer, but I really wanted to know why she refused my invitation. She shot a quick glance in the direction of the kitchen.

"Is it because of him? Has he forbidden you to go out?"

She didn't answer that question either. She opened her door and more or less forced me to leave. Somehow I was sure that I had hit the nail on the head.

"I think he's still a confirmed drunkard, although he gainsaid that. What did you get out of Autumn?" Chad asked when we had left.

"He's drunk about five times a week, so he definitely is a drunkard. But she says he doesn't beat her and she wants to stay with him. I'm not sure how honest she was about the last two things."

"Hm. I fear then we can't do anything. I mean, we could inform the CPS. Maybe it's bad enough that they get her out of there. But if she actually wants to stay we don't necessarily do her a favor with that. Foster homes aren't always the best alternative to a difficult father."

"I know. She doesn't trust me yet. Don't call the CPS for now. I'm going on patrol. Good Night, Chad. And thank you."

"You're welcome. G'Night."

I went into the forest and phased. I stayed close to her home. Her father yelled at her and accused her of having somehow informed the police. When I heard a slap, it was hard to stay in the woods. He did beat her. I had to make her trust me and talk to me. How could she want to live with that creep? Later in the evening she cried herself to sleep. That contracted my chest. When I only heard her calm and even breathing, I left for patrol.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you so much for your review, KittyPimms! It's good to know that at least one person will actually go on reading._

_Please review, I appreciate constructive criticism!  
_

* * *

**Back in the pack**

The next evening I eavesdropped on her house again. This time her father was drunk. This time he beat her so hard that she screamed in pain.

'You can't do anything about it right now, mate. She said she wanted to stay with him. Make her trust you enough to tell you the truth.'

I growled, but I knew Aaron was right. One day that bastard was going to pay for it though.

'I hope the bastard is Autumn's father and not me.'

I chuckled.

'Of course.'

'If I were you I would spare me the pain to hear her pain. I mean, you can't change it right now, anyway. Come on, let's patrol.'

'No, not yet. I've got to know if he's going even further.'

'Further? What do you mean? No! You think… he rapes his own daughter?'

'I don't know. He's drunk. He could do anything. I'll patrol as soon as she's asleep.'

'Okay. You're the boss.'

'You know, Embry', I was surprised to hear Brady's "voice". He barely addressed us and wanted us to stay out of his mind. 'If I were you I'd get her out of there immediately. Don't tell me you can't, there's always a way. People can be beaten to death, you know.'

I flinched at that thought and sighed.

'There isn't a way! She wouldn't come with me, she doesn't know me well enough! And if I make her she'll never forgive me!'

He remembered the picture of Brianna's lifeless body.

'There are so many ways a human can die', Aaron thought, 'I think although he's drunk he still watches where and how much he beats her. She didn't have any visible bruises, did she? He wouldn't want to explain any injuries, least of all a sudden death.'

Brady mumbled something unintelligible. How can you mumble a thought?

Inside Autumn's house, a door was slammed and there were no more beating sounds. Thank God! Autumn turned low music on. It was a calm, rather sad classical piano piece.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!' Leahs swearing drowned the beautiful tune out. Wait, what?

'Leah?' I asked unbelievingly.

'Yeah. Crap, Embry, John's standing right in front of me. What did I do? He can't know! I mean, now he does know, but that should never have happened!'

I was immediately on my feet.

'Don't let John go anywhere. Stay where you are. I'm coming. And try to phase back if you can. Aaron, you coming as well?'

'Sure. What's the plan?'

'First, we'll see how he takes it. If there's the slightest hint that he'll reveal our secret we'll threaten him, scare him to death, whatever makes him keep his mouth shut.'

'Sorry, Embry!' Leah whined.

'It's okay, Leah. What did he do this time to agitate you?'

'He's been cheating on me! I mean, we haven't really had much of a sex life in the past months because he's always drunk, but he's actually been cheating on me for two years now! And do you know what he said when I asked why he didn't simply ask me to divorce? That bitch is out of work and he needed a wife that gets money in since he isn't gaining enough himself to pay for all the alcohol and his high demands on technical equipment!' She was actually yelling by now.

'Calm down, Leah, you're not going to phase back like this.'

'We shouldn't show up in front of him in our wolf forms, Embry. We should pretend that Leah is the only one.'

'Yes, you're right, Aaron. Now, Leah, think of your kids. Maybe that can calm you down.'

I pushed a memory to my mind to help her. It was a scene from last summer. _Janelle and June were at the beach, standing knee-deep in the sea and splashing water at each other. They laughed and giggled. Then June came running to Leah. 'Mommeeee!' she screamed prolonging the last syllable, 'I'm soaked to the skin! Can you warm me up?' Leah, advanced in pregnancy with Jayden, hugged her tightly and rubbed her bare arms. Janelle ran to Collin to get the same warming wolf hug. June said 'I love you, Mommy! You're the best Mommy ever!'_

'Thanks, Embry. That helped a lot', Leah said before she phased back. Aaron and I arrived in the backyard of the Den at the same time, phased back and entered through the back door. We rushed upstairs, where Leah had pinned John to the wall of the hallway by holding his neck. She was naked, but that was nothing we hadn't seen yet. The open door of the living room gave us a look on the damage Leah had done by phasing. A couch was turned upside down, the glass table was a mess of thousands of shards and the cushion of the armchair had been ripped by what seemed to be her claws.

She hadn't stayed calm long, cause she was currently yelling again. John looked at her in horror.

"You scared? Well, that's good, cause you really should be! If you give away my secret to anyone, I swear, there will be no place on this earth where you can hide from me! I'll find you anywhere! So if you don't want to end up like your stupid armchair you better hold your tongue, especially when you're drunk! Now get the hell out of my house! I don't want to see you ever again! Understood?"

She pushed his head to the wall once and finally let go of him.

"Oh, I forgot: I'll file for divorce!"

John rushed past us, terrified.

"Well done, Leah. You didn't even need our help", I complimented.

She breathed out heavily as if she had held her breath during all the yelling.

"Thanks for coming, anyway. I just hope he really keeps quiet. Drunkards tend to be such blabbermouths."

While saying this, she went into her bedroom and pulled on a bathrobe.

"Yes, but nobody will believe him, especially when he's drunk. Don't worry."

Jayden was crying in his room. Leah hurried to solace him. Aaron and I waited in the hallway when the door to Janelle's room slowly opened. She peeked around the door carefully. When she saw us, she whispered:

"Is Daddy gone?"

I went to her and stroked her hair.

"Yes, sweetie. And I fear he won't come back."

She sniffed.

"You'll miss him, won't you?"

She shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I didn't like him very much lately. But he used to be a great Dad. I always wished he'd stop the drinking and become my Daddy again."

Leah had come out of Jayden's room with him on her arms and had heard her last words. She squatted down to hug Janelle with her free arm.

"Oh, honey, I've been wishing that, too."

Now June came out of her room as well. The first thing she saw was the chaos in the living room. Her eyes widened. Janelle went to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Daddy's gone", she whispered. Leah pulled both her daughters into a huge family hug. I cleared my throat.

"Um, so Leah, we've got to go. You know you can always call if you need help or just want to talk."

She looked up.

"Thank you, Embry. I think I'll rejoin the pack for a while. I want to see if I'm still the fastest or if my aging slowed me down."

She smiled at the thought of a race. I wasn't that enthusiastic about the thought of her in the pack again, actually. Especially now, when she'd be bitter about her loss. I must have shown that worry on my face, cause she said:

"Don't worry, I'll behave. Whenever I'm thinking the wrong things, just show me what you showed me earlier."

I smiled.

"Alright. Welcome back then."

Patrol was mainly boring. The vampires had made themselves scarce lately. Not that I didn't appreciate that, but just running along the borders of the res, where I knew every stone and every tree by heart, was just tiring.

The next day was a Wednesday and I didn't have to work. I slept in until ten and went on patrol.

'Embry!' Leah greeted cheerfully.

'Hi, Leah. Hi, Seth.'

'Hi, Embry. Could you tell Leah to phase back? We don't have to patrol all three. Two are enough. And she's annoying!'

'I love you, too, brother', Leah smirked, 'Embry, Seth doesn't want to race with me. Will you? Please?'

'You can't wait to check out your speed, can you? Seth, take a day off. You're right, three are too many. You patrol a lot, you deserve a free day.'

'You patrol more.'

'Maybe. Now, go home.'

'Okay. Thanks, Em.'

'Now, Embry, what about the race?' Leah asked.

'Already on my way.'

When I met her, I noticed that she was more slender than ten years ago. The grey fur around her nose had whitened slightly.

'You sure you can still beat me? From the looks, your wolf has definitely aged as well.'

'I know', she sighed, 'Let's check it out.'

She stepped beside me and took the best position to run off. I did the same.

'Okay. One – two – three!'

We sprinted off, throwing lumps of earth behind us, and she quickly took the lead. I growled. I wouldn't give up that easily. I playfully snapped at her tail. She laughed.

'Seems you haven't aged at all, Embry, not even your spirit.'

'Who's the one who put this race on? Not very mature either, I'd say.'

'Touché. So how far shall we go? Or do you already award me winner?'

'No, definitely not. To Shipwreck Point and back again.'

Shipwreck Point was located about 30 miles north of us at the coast of the Salish Sea. I was hoping that Leah wasn't in the best condition and would get exhausted before she reached the end of our race, which would give me the chance to overtake. I slowed down slightly, knowing that I couldn't hold our current speed over such a distance.

'That's not fair' Leah complained, 'The question was if I'm still the fastest and it's obvious that I'm still faster than you!'

'Well then. You win the title of the fastest, so let me win the title of the best long distance runner.'

'Not yet. Maybe I'm in a better condition than you think', she said, not slowing down a bit. She gained a healthy margin and disappeared out of my sight ten minutes later. I followed her track when I suddenly came across the sickly sweet smell of a vampire. I slithered to a halt.

'Damn, Leah, where did you have your nose? Come back!'

She turned around.

'I didn't smell anything, Embry. Honestly! Maybe he came after I was gone.'

'He's headed to the Makah res', I said as I followed his track. Leah was suddenly at my side. She wrinkled her nose.

'Ew. I would definitely have smelled that.'

We could see him now. He was jogging ahead of us. He had shoulder-long brown hair and wore tattered clothes.

'There he is.'

Leah growled and the leech turned around, surprise plain on his face. He frowned. I snarled and the vampire turned around to flee.

'Go ahead, Leah. Catch up with him and bring him down. I'll be right on your heels.'

'Yup. Haven't forgotten the tactics.'

She picked up speed, approached the vampire and lunged at him. When she was in midair, the leech suddenly turned around and smashed her against a tree. She whimpered, but got up immediately. Now I lunged myself at the bloodsucker and dug my teeth into his right shoulder. I ripped some flesh out of it. But he had put his hands on both sides of my chest and tried to crash it. I struggled to get free. Leah snatched his left arm and ripped it out. That freed me and with only one arm left, the leech had already lost. We ripped his other arm off and then his head and the legs. I phased back and put the pieces on fire. I grunted when I bent down. Some of my ribs were probably partially fractured. I'd have to wait till they were healed before I phased again.

"Leah, go follow his track backwards. Maybe he's not a loner. But be careful."

She bowed her head and sped away. I watched the fire until nothing but ashes were left of the leech. My chest already felt better, so I phased and went after Leah. She let me catch up with her and we followed the vampire's track to the borders of Port Angeles. We couldn't follow it any further, so we turned back to La Push. I'd put on some extra patrols for the next days, just to make sure that there weren't any other vampires in the area.

At three o'clock, Collin and Simon took over patrol and I called Zack to tell him to join them. Leah and I went to the Den, both starving from all the running and the fight. Seth was there, taking stock to see what had to be reordered.

"You shouldn't have left, Seth, you missed all the fun!" Leah laughed.

"So, did you outrun him?" Seth asked.

"Of course. But that's not what I meant. There was a leech to kill."

Seth looked upset.

"Really? Crap! I didn't kill a single vampire in the last five months! And now that I get a free day instead of a supposedly boring patrol, you come across one! That's not fair!"

"Well, then I guess you're already looking forward to the extra patrol I'm putting on", I chuckled.

"Are there more leeches around?" Seth asked hopefully.

"We don't know. He came from Port Angeles. Maybe there are more, maybe not. We'll see."

My phone buzzed. The caller ID belonged to Cory.

"Hey, Cory. What's up?"

"Hey, Em. I'm at Olivia's and Olivia and Autumn are working on a school project, so I'm sitting here all bored and was wondering if you'd like to come around?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in five."

"Great. See you", he said before hanging up.

I grabbed some muffins from the counter.

"See you later, guys! I get to see my imprint!"

"Have fun!" Leah said.

I was already at the door when I heard Seth ask Leah:

"How come you're all cheerful and not the tiniest bit sad or bitter about what John did to you?"

I stopped, curious about her answer.

"I don't know. Maybe I already found closure during the past months. I wanted to kick him out earlier, actually. I only let him stay for the sake of the kids."

Well, that was good news. I had already been wondering why she was so completely in control of her thoughts today and didn't waste a single thought on John.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for your review, Whispered Truth! My day has been so boring and now my modd went up thanks to you :)_

_Enjoy and please review! Tell me what you like/dislike._

* * *

**In trouble**

Olivia's family had an open kitchen that was attached to the dining/living room. Autumn and Olivia sat at the dining table. Autumn had a laptop in front of her and was typing what Olivia suggested. Nearly every time Olivia took a moment to think about the next part, Autumn went on typing and Olivia said something like:

"Yes, that's good!"

I was really glad that they got along so well despite Autumn's silence. I could have watched them the whole time, but Cory demanded my attention. We played a video game. Unfortunately we had to mute the sound, because Olivia complained that she wasn't able to concentrate. After a while I heard Autumn flinch and gasp.

"Oh, sorry! Is something wrong with your arm? Do you have a bruise there or something?" Olivia asked. She wanted to pull back Autumn's sleeve, but Autumn freed her arm from Olivia's grip and hid it under the table. Olivia raised her hands in surrender.

"Okay, understood. It's not my business. Let's go on."

I was sure that her father had caused that bruise or whatever Autumn hid. Cory laughed at me because my car had crashed into the fence while I was paying attention to Autumn.

About an hour later the two girls were finished. Autumn packed her stuff and headed to the door, but Olivia called her back.

"Hey, Autumn, don't go already! Stay, please! You can't leave me alone with these two twerps, can you?"

Autumn hesitated. Please stay, please stay, please …, I thought until Autumn sighed and put her jacket back onto the hook. Yay!

"Let's watch a movie, shall we?"

Olivia and Cory snuggled in the wide armchair while Autumn and I sat down on the couch. I wished I could at least put my arm around her shoulders, but it was too early for that. Somewhere in the middle of the movie Autumn blew her breath up her face in an attempt to cool it. It was a warm late summer day and even if she hadn't sat next to a werewolf whose body heat radiated off him, she would have sweat in her cardigan.

"Warm in here, isn't it? Why don't you pull off your cardigan?" I asked quietly, although I already knew that she wouldn't do it. Like I had presumed, she shook her head. Olivia had obviously heard my question and got up.

"I'm feeling hot, too. I'll get us some ice-cream. Any preferences?"

She, in contrast to Autumn, only wore a skirt and a top, but I guess snuggling with a werewolf was quite hot, too, in the literal sense.

"Chocolate", I ordered. Autumn looked at me surprised and smiled. I guess it was chocolate for her as well.

"Cherry for me, babe", Cory ordered.

I was right. Autumn took chocolate scoops as well.

When Olivia's parents came home about half an hour later, Autumn jumped and looked at her watch in horror. She rushed to the hallway and grabbed her jacket, waving goodbye to us.

"Do you need a ride?" I offered.

She hesitated, but then she nodded. On the way to her house I asked:

"Why are you so nervous? Is your father going to beat you because you're late?"

She looked at me, not answering my question. I assumed that was a Yes. As I pulled onto her driveway, she unfastened her seatbelt hastily. I held her back when she already had her hand on the door handle.

"You know you can always text me, right? When you need help or want to talk. And if someday you want to really talk, I mean with your own voice, about your mother's death, or whatever, just call me. I'm a good listener. Okay?"

She nodded and got out of the car. She hadn't even shut the front door behind herself when her father started yelling.

"Where have you been? I'm starving! Off to the kitchen with you, lazybones!"

I could hear him emphasizing his words with a slap into her back. I fought an inner struggle whether to interfere or not. But then again, Autumn was still pretending that he didn't beat her, though I really couldn't understand why. Sighing, I pulled back onto the street and pushed the pedal to the metal. I'm not usually a speeder, but I had to vent my anger somehow, if not on her father.

I didn't get a chance to talk to or even see Autumn the next day. I was busy at work, making a two-day trip into the mountains to check on the condition of a hiking trail. When I came home on Friday, I had one hour left before the bonfire would start. Of course I'd use it to check on Autumn. At first her house seemed fairly quiet. There were sounds of flatware on plates. Then there was more noise, as if the dishes were being put into the sink. Water started to flow.

"That was really good, babe. Come here."

Hesitant footsteps.

"Give Daddy a kiss."

Short moment of silence.

"Not on the cheek, silly!"

What? Where else would a daughter kiss her Dad?

"When did you grow these nice jugs?"

He groaned with relish. I was on my feet the second Autumn whined.

"Hey! Stay!" her father shouted.

I hadn't reached their backyard yet when the front door opened. Autumn ran around the house and to the woods as if the Devil himself was after her. Her cardigan had been pulled off her shoulders.

"You come back now, young lady!" her father yelled, "Come back, you bitch!"

Autumn seemed to not have seen me when she had rushed past me. I went after her. She followed a path that lead to a small clearing, where a creek fled by and the last storm had uprooted an old tree. She sat down on the log of that tree and buried her face in her hands, crying her heart out. I was about to leave the shadow of the trees when she suddenly stopped, sniffed and pulled her cell phone out. Sobs shook her shoulders while she texted, every now and then stopping to think. When my phone buzzed, I could have jumped for joy. The text said: _Hi Embry. I'm in trouble. Can u come? If it doesn't cause u inconvenience… I'm on a clearing. Just follow the path that starts in my backyard. Autumn._

I texted one word back: _Sure_.

I waited about five minutes, although that was hard because she had started crying again. Then I stepped onto the path and out onto the clearing. Now I couldn't contain myself anymore and ran the last feet towards her. I crouched down in front of her and gently touched her arm.

"Autumn. What the heck happened?"

I had to pretend that I didn't know. She flabbergasted me by hugging me and burying her face in my chest, nearly knocking me over. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Shhh. Everything's going to be fine. I promise."

She shook her head in disagreement. As it was pretty uncomfortable to hug someone in a crouch, I picked her up, sat down on the log and sat her down on my lap. I stroked her back and waited for her tears to run dry. When they did, she raised her right hand to wipe them away, but only to drop it again the second it touched her face, breathing in heavily through her teeth. She then supported her right arm with her left.

"May I have a look at your arm?"

She nodded and carefully pulled the sleeve back herself, clenching her teeth together. Her wrist was red and was obviously bruised. I gently sampled it. From the amount of pain it seemed to cause her, I wasn't sure if it was "only" bruised.

"It might be broken. We've got to check this at the hospital."

She shook her head fiercely.

"This has to be treated properly."

"But I have no money", she whispered so quietly I, despite my improved hearing, was barely able to understand her. But hey, she had spoken to me!

"Don't worry about money. I'll pay."

She shook her head.

"Yes, I will. Now, will you tell me what happened?"

She sighed and sobbed.

"Okay, let's try the yes-no-questions again. You only have to nod or shake your head."

She nodded.

"Your father beats you, doesn't he?" Nod.

"And he beat you today, too?" A hesitating shake.

"But he broke your wrist, didn't he?" Nod.

"Did he rape you?" Shake.

"He wanted to. But I ran away" she admitted quietly.

"Was that the first time he tried that?" Nod.

"Autumn, why do you want to stay with him? I know he is your father, but he hurts you and he treats you like dirt."

"I have nowhere else to go. He's the only family I've got left. I'm afraid of being sent to a foster home. But I don't think I can go back to him after this. I don't know what to do!" she said and the tears started to come back.

"You really shouldn't go back to him after this. As a start, you'll be my guest. Are you sure you don't have any relatives? Not even distant cousins?"

She shook her head.

"Okay. Don't worry. I don't think the CPS would let me care for you, cause I look too young, but I've got friends who would be considered worthy foster parents. They're really nice. You could stay here in La Push, where you already made friends with Olivia and I could always visit you. How does that sound?"

She nodded with a sigh. My solution seemed to be acceptable.

"Now, let's get you to the hospital."

She sighed again and got up reluctantly.

"They'll ask questions!" she complained.

I pushed her towards the path with one hand while pulling my cell phone out with the other. I dialed Kim's number.

"Yeah? Embry?"

"Hey, Kim. I assume you're already at the beach?"

"Yes. Why? Aren't you coming?"

"Maybe later. Could you come to the hospital? I think Autumn's wrist is broken and maybe she should be checked all over to be sure there isn't more", Autumn shot me a glare, "she doesn't want the doctors to ask questions, so, could you treat her please?"

Kim sighed.

"Alright. Can you pick me up at the beach?"

"Sure."

The sun had already set and it was dark in the forest. Autumn stumbled over roots and stones every now and then. Finally, I picked her up bridal style.

"Hey! Let me down! My wrist is bruised, not my legs!"

"But you can't see anything. I don't want you to fall."

"Oh and you can see?"

"Yes."

"Everyone says you're older than you look like. How old are you?"

Now she had definitely regained her voice.

"I'm thirty."

"Oh. You're indeed twice as old as I am. Why do you look like seventeen or eighteen?"

"Hasn't everyone told you that that's a secret?"

"And why do you care so much about me? Are you attracted by girls my age?"

"I'll tell you eventually, but not today."

She became serious.

"What about my stuff? All my clothes and books and CDs are in my room."

"We'll get them tomorrow, when your father isn't home."

She stayed silent for the rest of the walk and during the ride to the beach. I honked and Kim came running to my old Chevrolet Forester.

"Hi Embry. Hey Autumn. I'm Kim."

Autumn smiled nervously at her.

When we entered Forks hospital the old nurse at the information desk greeted:

"Good evening, Dr. Cameron. Didn't you have the morning shift today?"

"I did. I'm just doing a friend a favor", Kim replied pointing to me. She led us to a small doctor's office.

"You can wait outside, Embry."

I started to protest, but she cut me off.

"You wanted me to check her all over, didn't you? I don't think she'll undress if you stay."

Autumn nodded, so I went outside and sat down on one of the waiting chairs. About half an hour later Kim came out and shut the door behind her.

"My God, she's got bruises all over her body. The wrist is broken and some of the bruises are quite severe, but there are no alarming injuries. You definitely have to convince her that she can't stay with her father anymore. If you don't, I'll call the CPS."

"She knows she can't go back. He wanted to rape her tonight."

"Oh. I didn't check her there. But you said he wanted, right, so he wasn't successful."

"Yes. She was able to escape."

Kim waved for me to follow her into her office. Autumn sat on the plastic bench, her wrist in a purple cast.

"So, Autumn, you're ready to go", Kim announced, "You went through a lot, maybe you should try to distract yourself. There's a bonfire at the beach tonight and the elders will tell the legends of our tribe. Do you want to come?"

Autumn looked at me and nodded. Then she hopped off the bench, took my right hand with her well hand and squeezed it. She wanted to lose her grip afterwards, but I didn't let go of her hand. She sighed.

Back at the beach I introduced her to my former and current pack members, their imprints and children and the elders, Billy, Sue and Old Quil, who we secretly had renamed as Very Old Quil. Believe it or not, they had saved some food for us and had not yet started the storytelling, so that Autumn wouldn't miss a single one of them. She sat down next to me. There was a fresh breeze coming from the sea and it didn't take long until she leaned against my warm side. When Billy came to the part where he said that the wolves didn't age, I watched her face to see her reaction. Only then I realized that she had fallen asleep. Well then, maybe better this way. She'd had enough to take in today.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks again for your reviews, KittyPimms! You caught me, I didn't give you Autumn's exact age and I wasn't even aware of that. I thought I had at least said that she's in high school, but after rereading the first chapter I guess I didn't. Long story short, she's 15._

* * *

**Official accusation**

Quil was sleeping at Claire's tonight, which spared me a night on the uncomfortable couch that was way too short for my 6'4''. I put the still sleeping Autumn into my bed and went to sleep in Quil's room. The next morning I gently woke her up with a tray that was filled with a great variety of breakfast meals. Since I had no idea what she liked, I had made pancakes, bacon and eggs, filled a bowl with cereals and added an apple and a banana for the case she wanted fruit. Then there was a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice.

Autumn blinked sleepily.

"Good morning, Autumn! Breakfast's ready."

She sat up and eyed the tray.

"Oh my God. Is all that for me?"

"Yeah. Just pick what you like. I'll eat the rest", I winked.

She started with the pancakes.

"Can I have the bacon or do you want it as dessert?"

She giggled.

"No, you can have it."

I sat down on the edge of the bed and put the plate on my knees.

"Sorry I fell asleep so early yesterday."

"Never mind. You can hear the legends next time. Do you remember who Sam and Emily are?"

"Um, Emily I know. She was really kind. And Emma's so cute! Was Sam her husband? I can't remember which one he was. You all look very much alike, you know."

I chuckled.

"They are the ones who I thought could adopt you. The alternative would be Kim and Jared. I assume you don't remember who Jared was either."

She shook her head.

"These pancakes are really good! Even better than my Mom's I'd say", she sighed and turned sad at the thought of her Mom.

"It's Emily's recipe. Do you… want to talk about your Mom?"

"No, not yet, actually. But until today I thought that my Mom's pancakes were the best in the world. So, today's Saturday. My Dad is either home until the late afternoon and then goes to the next bar, or he'll already go to the bar at noon. When shall we get my stuff?"

"I've got a pa…", I nearly had said pack member, but I corrected myself, "a friend of mine watching your house. He'll call when your father leaves."

I had tried to talk Chad into arresting her father, but he had said Autumn would have to officially accuse him. I knew she wasn't ready to talk to other people than me yet.

She was done with the pancakes and took the apple next.

"What do you want to do today?"

"Um, I don't know. Do you have a piano?"

"No. Do you play?"

She nodded.

"There's a piano at Seth's and Leah's restaurant. It hasn't been played for a while. I don't even know if it's still working. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you tried."

"I would very much like that. I haven't played since I left Port Angeles."

"Okay. The Den it is then. Do you want to take a shower first?"

She nodded. It seemed that the habit of nodding or shaking instead of saying Yes or No would stick for a while although she had regained her voice. I took the tray back to the kitchen and washed the dishes. Then I sat down in the living room and simply waited. Twenty minutes later Autumn showed up, wrapped in a towel. I flinched inwardly at the sight of all the bruises on her arms.

"Do you have a blow-dryer?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"Never mind. It's fairly warm outside. But I wish I already had my clothes. You really could have woken me up yesterday so that I didn't have to sleep in my clothes."

"Sorry. I can lend you a shirt if you like."

"Um, your shirt would look like a tent on me. My clothes will have to do."

I shrugged.

Fifteen minutes later we were on our way to the Den. We entered through the back door since the restaurant didn't open before noon.

"Hey, Leah! Are you home?" I called upstairs. June appeared on top of the stairs.

"No, Mom's at the supermarket and she's taking Nelly to Collin's."

"Okay. Autumn would like to play the piano. Your Mom wouldn't mind, would she?"

"No. Can I listen?"

Autumn nodded and June ran down the stairs squealing. Autumn went to the piano in the corner of the restaurant's main room. She tried a few notes. Then she started playing the calm sad piece that I had heard her listen to that one evening.

"Aaaaaw, that was beautiful!" June announced when the last tone faded. Autumn smiled at her.

"Can you teach me how to play? I always wanted to play the piano, but all I can is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", June giggled. Autumn laughed and played the children's song. But even that simple tune sounded beautiful when she played it.

"Hey, someone's playing the piano! Edward will love to hear that!" Seth cheered.

"Seth, shouldn't you be somewhere else?" I asked because it was actually him who I had ordered to watch Autumn's house.

"Yeah, I know. But he's gone. I texted you, didn't you notice?"

I searched my pockets.

"Damn it, I must have forgotten my phone at home! Shall we go then, Autumn?"

She got up. June pouted.

"Will you come back and play more?"

Autumn mussed June's hair up and nodded. I drove back to the Clearwater's house and got my phone before I drove to that tiny house where my Autumn had suffered so much. She entered the house hesitantly, carefully looking around if her father was really gone. In her room she asked:

"Can you get the suitcase on top of the dresser down for me?"

Of course I could. She pulled some folded moving boxes out from under her bed.

"Can you put my books and all the stuff on the desk in there?"

She packed her clothes while I packed the books, CDs, notepads, pencils and what else lied on her desk. We were both nearly finished when suddenly the front door was being opened. Autumn flinched. Her father walked in, four bottles of rum and vodka in his arms. He stared at us surprisedly.

"Well, look who's back. And you brought the police right with you. So you finally opened your mouth, didn't you? Told him everything?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not a police officer. But my friend is and sooner or later he'll arrest you", I replied.

"Then what are you doing here with my daughter?"

He put the bottles down and approached me angrily.

"She's packing her stuff and I'm helping her. I warn you not to punch me cause I'll punch back. You're actually lucky that Autumn is present because otherwise I'd beat you up for beating her so many times."

He chuckled.

"Cute. You got yourself a boyfriend, Autumn. But you won't leave. I am your father. You're supposed to live with me!"

"You've had your chance to prove that you're a caring father and you proved to be the opposite. I'm going to call the CPS on Monday. Until she's officially out of your care I'll protect her. If you don't let us leave I'll break some bones of yours. Did I make myself clear?"

He left into his bedroom. I turned to Autumn.

"Come on, hurry up."

She nodded and took the next pile of tops with trembling hands. I stuffed some sheet music into one of the boxes when she screamed. I turned to the door immediately, placing myself protectively between Autumn and her father, who aimed at me with a handgun.

"My daughter is staying. You are going to leave. Did _I_ make myself clear?"

"No, actually not."

"Embry", Autumn whined, "for Christ's sake leave! I'll be fine."

"No, you wouldn't be fine, Autumn."

I made a step towards her father. Did he have the courage – or the stupidity – to actually shoot? Not that I was worried about my life. I'm a hard-to-kill werewolf. But a bullet in my chest would definitely hurt and distract me for several seconds, if not minutes. The shot clanged in my sensitive ears milliseconds before the pain hit my stomach. The force of the bullet sent me to the ground. Autumn screamed and fell on her knees beside me.

"No! Embry!"

Her father laughed devilishly.

"He'll bleed to death. And while he's doing so, he'll have to watch how I rape you."

He grabbed her arm and pushed her on her bed. I gritted my teeth and pulled the bullet out of my stomach before the wound could heal. Her father had his back to me. By now I was so furious that I was shaking. Although the wound was still healing, I got up and pulled the bastard back, capturing him in a headlock with one arm while pulling the handgun forcibly out of his hand. I was still shaking. I had to calm down if I didn't want to phase and scare Autumn. I took deep breaths. Then I pulled my cell phone out and searched for Chad's number. Autumn's father struggled against my tight wolf grip, but, honestly, he had no chance. Chad answered the phone.

"Yup?"

"I want to officially accuse Mr. Hunt of attempted manslaughter and attempted rape. Can you arrest him _now_?"

"Manslaughter?"

"Yeah. He shot me."

"You okay?"

"Not yet, but in a few minutes."

"And Autumn?"

I glanced at her. She was still trembling and her face was deathly pale.

"Physically fine, but mentally in some kind of shock I think. Now don't waste time asking questions, move your lazy butt and come here! I'm having him in a headlock, but my wound's still hurting like crap!"

"I'm already on my way. I was at the station, though, so it'll take some time. Charlie's coming, too. Just knock that bastard unconscious, we'll report it as an action of self-defense."

I hung up and placed a well-aimed punch on his temple. I let him fall down on the ground and sat down on the bed in front of Autumn. I opened my arms for a hug, but she pointed at my wound with her trembling hand.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Despite my words she took her cushion and pressed it to my wound. I pulled her onto my lap and tried to distract her.

"What's that piano piece called you played earlier?"

She didn't even react to that question. After several minutes, I pulled the cushion off the former wound. I didn't feel any pain anymore, so I assumed it had healed.

"I should wash the blood away."

I stood up. Autumn followed me right on my heels, clinging to my arm. In the bathroom, she let go of me. I washed the blood away. When I turned around to Autumn, she had opened a first-aid kit and held a bandage in her hands. She looked incredulously at the place on my skin where the wound had been. I cleared my throat.

"I told you I'd be fine, didn't I? This goes along with the not-aging stuff. I heal fast."

She tore up. Why did she cry when I was just fine? I pulled her into a hug.

"Embry?" Chad called worriedly.

"Yes! Still alive!"

I pushed Autumn back to the hallway. Charlie Swan was handcuffing her father right now. I threw the bullet over to Chad and he caught it mid-air.

"There's your proof. And my blood-stained shirt shows you where it penetrated my skin."

"Already healed?" he asked.

"Yes, fortunately. That was some hell of pain, man!"

"I believe that", Charlie said, "you can be lucky you heal that fast. What the hell have you been thinking? He could have hit your heart! Do you think you'd survive that, too?"

"I don't know. I didn't know he had a gun."

Charlie shook his head.

"Chad, you've got to carry him. He's still unconscious."

Chad groaned, but picked the bastard up anyway.

"Embry, we've got to take down your charge – and Autumn's deposition if that's possible. Can you come over to the station later?"

"I'll come. Autumn won't."

"Okay. See you later!"

"See you."

I finished the packing while Autumn stared blankly at the wall. At last I packed the wolf calendar.

"Come on, Autumn, we can leave this damned place."

She stared out of the window on the ride home. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it comfortingly. When I pulled onto our driveway, I said:

"Go ahead. I'll bring your luggage."

She went inside in a strange slow walk, as if she was in some kind of trance. I could hear Seth's and Quil's laughter from the inside. It stopped out of a sudden. I met them at the door.

"What the hell!" Seth exclaimed when his eyes met my blood-stained shirt.

"There are two more boxes in the trunk. Go get them", was all I answered. I could feel their gazes on my back as I went in and upstairs to my room. Autumn lied on the bed and stared at the blank ceiling. I put her suitcase and the box I was carrying down and went to my dresser to find a new shirt. Soon after Seth and Quil came with the other two boxes. They left immediately after they'd put them down. Good boys. I closed the door behind them and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What can I do to help you digest this?"

She sighed, pulled her cell phone out and texted something. Then she showed me the display. The text said: _Leave. I need some time alone._ I sighed as well. She had lost her voice again. But why? I thought she trusted me now. This was weird. One nearly-rape made her talk to me and the next shut her walls down around her again.

"Okay", I put a strand of her beautiful hair back behind her ear, "I'll go to the police station quickly then. I'll hopefully be back in about 45 minutes. If you need something, Seth and Quil are down in the living room. Don't be afraid to ask them. They won't laugh at you if you text your question."

I went downstairs.

"Hey, guys. I've got to give evidence at the police station. Can you stay at home until I'm back for the case Autumn needs something?"

"Sure", Quil nodded, "I'm here all afternoon anyway. Claire is coming over later."

"Thanks, mate."

I drove to Forks and reported every detail of what had happened. In the end, Charlie said:

"Thank you, Embry. I already called the CPS. I told them that Autumn has found a safe house to stay at for the time being. They'll send someone to La Push on Monday to talk to Autumn and inspect the safe house to decide if she may stay there until they've found foster parents for her. Sue told me that you guys keep the house fairly clean, so I don't see any problems there. Maybe you should make sure that the fridge contains not only fast-food, but also healthy stuff."

"Believe it or not, but we even have fruits in our kitchen."

Charlie chuckled.

"Okay then. If the CPS doesn't approve of your young male house sharing community nonetheless, Autumn can move in with Sue and me. We don't want her to have to go to an asylum."

"That's kind of you. Thanks, Charlie."

He waved it off.

"No problem. Oh, um, did you already hear? Bella, Nessie, Jake and Edward are coming for a visit over Thanksgiving."

"Just them? No other Cullens?"

"No, just them. Better that way, isn't it? Although I would have liked to see Alice again."

"Yeah, better that way. Oh, and just so you know: Leah and I took down a vampire at the borders of the Makah res on Wednesday. He came from Port Angeles. We actually wanted to tell you at the bonfire, but you weren't there."

"Yes, I had to work. Thanks for the info."

"Okay, see you, Charlie."

"Goodbye."


	6. Chapter 6

_ KittyPimms, I'm now officially a fan of your reviews! I'm glad that my imagination of how a teenage girl would react took me the right way._

_Everyone else, could you please, PLEASE, leave me a review? It takes only a few seconds to write a few words. Even one word would already make me happy. Guest reviews are welcome, too. Please?  
_

* * *

**Secrets**

I drove back home. Soft classical music jingled downstairs from my room. Quil sat in the living room with Claire watching a romantic movie. Seth was nowhere to be seen.

"Hi Claire. How's Autumn, Quil? And where's Seth?"

"Seth fled when Autumn turned on her classical music. She stayed in your room the whole time."

"I went to check on her earlier", Claire added, "but she's locked herself up and wouldn't answer."

"Thanks, Claire."

"You're welcome. I wish I could help her, you know."

I sighed.

"Yeah, I wish I could, too. Hey, Quil, the CPS is coming on Monday, so don't leave a mess in neither the bathroom nor the kitchen in the morning, okay?"

"Aye, aye, Sir!" he saluted.

I went upstairs and knocked lightly at the door.

"Autumn! It's me. I just wanted to let you know that I'm back and wanted to see how you are."

At first it stayed silent except for the music and I already tried to accept that she wouldn't even let me in. I had already turned back to the stairs when the key was turned inside the keyhole and the door opened. I could tell that Autumn had cried again. She waved me in and went back to my desk to continue a drawing. I stepped behind her and looked over her shoulder. She was copying an image from the wolf calendar.

"That looks great. Do you draw a lot?"

She nodded. I sat down on the bed and thought about what to do. How could I help her? What should I say? When was the right moment to confront her with the fact that the CPS was going to come on Monday? Probably never. But I'd wait until tomorrow. I was so lost in thoughts that it took some time for me to notice Autumn was holding a piece of paper in front of me.

"Oh. Sorry."

I took the paper: She had written something on it: _I want to get to know Sam and Emily better. Could you invite them to dinner tomorrow? Together with their kids of course. I want to cook for you and them._

"You want to cook? You know, you don't have to, don't you? You're my guest."

She crossed her arms stubbornly. I raised my hands in surrender.

"Alright. I'll call them. Shall we go to the supermarket to get the things you need? I bet we don't have everything at home."

She nodded.

"Okay, just let me make the phone call first to make sure that they're not planning something else tomorrow evening."

And to ask them if they actually would adopt Autumn. I went into Seth's room and dialed Sam's number.

"Hey!"

"Hi Sam!"

"What can I do for you?"

"You know that Autumn lost her Mom and now her father is hopefully going into jail."

"He's going into jail? I didn't know that."

"Oh, of course. It only happened today. Autumn and I went to her house to get her stuff after her father had left. But he came back. He didn't want to let Autumn go. He shot me and nearly raped her. Charlie and Chad arrested him."

"That's good news. I mean, not that he shot you and nearly raped his daughter, but that he's finally arrested."

"Yes. But now Autumn has nobody left. She's got no relatives where she could live. The CPS wouldn't let her live with me. So, I wondered…", I trailed off, not sure how to ask.

"So you want to know if Emily and I would accommodate her."

"Um, yes. Maybe even adopt her. Would you?"

"She's your imprint. The pack protects the imprints. So of course I would. I've got to ask Emily, but, you know her, I don't think she'd object."

"Thank you so much, Sam!"

He chuckled.

"Although it'll be strange to someday have you as my son-in-law."

I laughed.

"Yeah. So, Autumn would like to get to know you better. She's inviting you to dinner tomorrow. Can you come?"

"Um, Emily has to work at the Den tomorrow. But we can ask Claire if she can help Leah out in the evening."

"I can ask her. She's downstairs with Quil."

"Okay. Then do that."

I rushed downstairs. Quil and Claire made out on the couch.

"Oh, come on, guys, I told you to go to Quil's room for that! Anyway, Claire, can you jump in at the Den for Emily tomorrow evening?"

Quil groaned, already knowing that Claire wouldn't refuse.

"Sure", she said smiling.

"Great! Thank you so much! Sam, she said yes."

"Okay. Then it's dinner at Autumn's tomorrow! Can we bring the kids, too?"

"Of course. Autumn loves Emma."

"Yes, everybody does. Well then, see you tomorrow!"

"What about the Den tonight? Aren't you coming?"

"No, we're not. We're visiting Emily's family at the Makah res."

"Okay then. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye."

I hung up and called Autumn.

In the evening we went to the Den for dinner. Everyone was really nice and welcoming to Autumn. When Leah said, "I heard you played the piano this morning! June is a great fan of you. You can play it whenever you want to", Autumn even smiled. That was the first smile since the incident. She was so beautiful when she smiled! She really should smile more often. Hopefully I could make her.

"Embry, do I really have to patrol tonight? That bloodsucker obviously was a loner, you could exempt us from the extra patrol! I didn't get much sleep lately", Zack complained. Autumn frowned in confusion.

"Nobody of us did", I replied, "You don't work on Sundays, right? So you have the whole tomorrow to sleep."

I hadn't slept more than three hours per night since Wednesday and that wouldn't get any better until Tuesday when I had my next day off work. I was sure Zack had slept more than I did.

"Oh, come on, Embry!" Zack whined.

"Don't be such a baby, Zack", Jared said.

"Well, you can talk. Since you don't pha", I cut him off angrily.

"Watch what you say, Zack!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Okay. So since you don't have to do it anymore, Jared!"

"Yes, right, but still I know what it's like. When I joined the", he thought for another word than pack for a moment, "group, we were only two. Imagine how much sleep I got at that time!"

Zack groaned. Collin, who sat next to him, whispered:

"Honestly, Zack, you should imprint."

"Hell no!" Zack whisper-yelled back, "I don't wanna be whipped like you! I like my freedom to date and fuck whoever I want to."

Now Collin rolled his eyes and Kim exclaimed, "Language, Zack! There are children in the room!"

I was on patrol for eight hours in the night and had to work on Sunday. Completely tired out I came back home at about five o'clock and slumped into an armchair. Only then I heard some noise from the kitchen. I went there and saw Autumn cutting carrots into little pegs.

"You're already cooking? Can I help?"

She mustered me shortly, shook her head and smiled. She lied down the knife, put her hands flatly together and to her cheek and closed her eyes as if she was sleeping.

"Yes, I could need some sleep. Are you sure I shouldn't help? I'm feeling bad about leaving you alone with all the work."

She waved aside and shooed me out of the kitchen.

"Wake me up shortly before Sam and Emily are going to come, okay?"

I went to bed and fell asleep within seconds. It wasn't Autumn who woke me up, but the doorbell. Who the hell was that? Nobody ever rang the bell, everyone just entered without even knocking. I got up groaning. Autumn reached the door when I was on the stairs, but she heard me and turned around to me.

"I'll get the door. Go back to your dinner."

I opened the door. Tiffany Call, my mother, stood in front of me. I groaned inwardly. Did she really have to visit today of all days?

"Hello Mom."

"You look awful, Embry!"

"Why, thanks. It's great to see you, too", I replied sarcastically.

"Are you going to invite me in?"

I opened the door completely and went into the living room where I sat down in my comfortable armchair.

"You haven't been visiting for three weeks and you didn't even call once!" Mom complained.

"Well, you didn't call either. I was busy, I'm sorry."

"You always say that!"

"Because it's always the case!"

"Who's that? Your girlfriend?"

Autumn had left the door to the kitchen open and Mom had spotted her.

"No."

"Seth's girlfriend?"

"No. She's just a friend who's staying with us for a while."

"And you make a guest cook for you? Where are your manners?"

"She wanted to cook, Mom!"

I followed her when she went into the kitchen to greet Autumn.

"Hello, dear. I'm Tiffany, Embry's Mom. Good for you to not be his girlfriend. He never dates a girl for more than a few weeks."

"Mom!" I complained. The girls always dumped me, not the other way round! Autumn shook Mom's hand and smiled faintly at her.

"Do you have a name, too?" Mom asked.

"Her name's Autumn."

Mom half-turned to me.

"Can't she speak for herself?"

"Yes, she can, but currently she doesn't want to speak."

Mom frowned at her.

"Why?"

"Drop it, Mom, please."

"How old is she? She can't be out of High School yet. Why isn't she living with her parents?"

"Mom! Can we go to the living room and talk there?"

Mom sighed and went past me. Autumn smiled gratefully at me. I shut the kitchen door and went back to my armchair.

"Autumn's mother died this spring and her father got arrested only yesterday", I explained.

"Oh", Mom replied sheepishly, "Poor girl. What did her father do?"

"He tried to shoot me, he beat Autumn a hundred times and he tried to rape her twice."

Mom gasped.

"Is that the kind of protection you're offering? Saving girls from abusive homes?"

"Usually not."

"When will you finally tell me?"

I sighed and looked down. Then my eyes shot up again.

"When will you finally tell me who my father is – or was?"

She blinked several times.

"You know, I often wish he could have lived with us. Maybe you wouldn't have become such a rebel then."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have slept with a married man."

The words were out before I could stop myself. Mom blushed and stayed silent. Dangerously silent.

"I'm sorry! I really am! I shouldn't have said that. It's just… for about fifteen years now I've been wondering who of my friends my half-brother is."

"Would you tell me your secret if I told you mine?"

"Yes", I said hesitantly. I had to make peace with Mom at last. In order to achieve that, she needed to know.

"I've got to think that over."

"Alright. Let me know when you've made a decision."

She nodded. An awkward silence hovered in the room until I cautiously spoke up.

"So, for the time you still don't know the secret, could you not run around telling girls that I've only had quite short relationships yet? Cause that's not my fault."

She eyed me and then a grin slowly spread over her face.

"You like Autumn."

I frowned.

"Of course I like her. That's the thing about friends, you know. You like each other."

"Yes, but you don't just like her, you have a crush on her."

"No, I haven't." Not yet at least. At the moment, the imprint bond called for a completely harmless, non-romantic sibling-like relationship.

"Yes, you have. Otherwise you wouldn't mind that I told her how little time your relationships last."

"Whatever."

Mom became serious again.

"Don't you dare break her heart. She's been through enough, don't you think?"

"Yes, right. I'm not planning on hurting her anyway!"

"You always say that. Every time you've got a new flame you are oh-so certain that she is the one you want to spend your life with and that you're not going to dump her."

"Of all the girlfriends I've had, I might have dumped about four. All the others dumped me."

"Yes, but you wouldn't have had it any other way. Most of them dumped you because you wouldn't tell them your secret, didn't they?"

"I can't tell a girlfriend that I've only been dating for a few weeks a secret so big that not even my own mother is allowed to know about it. Anyways, Autumn is completely different from my past girlfriends. She is special."

"So you admit that you have a crush on her?"

"No. I swear I haven't. I haven't because she is so special."

"I don't think I can follow your logic."

"Then drop it. How about you? Any potential boyfriends on the horizon?"

"None", she stated and then said softly, "You should sleep more. You know sleep deprivation is not very healthy."

"I know. I told you I've been busy. Actually I've been trying to catch up some sleep when you dropped in."

"Sorry, Dear. I'll leave and let you sleep then."

"Never mind. Sam and Emily are going to be here in about fifteen minutes anyway."

My Mom's face darkened when I mentioned Sam. She still accused him of making me go astray. Hopefully that would change when she heard the truth. Now that I had decided to tell her, it felt completely the right thing to do and I couldn't wait for it. What would I do if she decided that my secret wasn't worth to be traded in for my father's name?

"I've got to leave anyway", Mom said standing up and headed to the front door.

"See you soon?" she asked. She always did.

"As soon as practicable", I answered. I always did. She sighed, as always, and I looked apologetically, as always. Well, not always, to tell the truth. Sometimes she left furiously without another word and just slammed the door behind her. Or she kicked me out of her house, yelling that she never wanted to see me again. That was not the way the relationship between an only child and its single mother was supposed to be, right? I definitely had to make peace with her.

Autumn peeked out of the kitchen.

"My Mom's gone. Sorry about earlier. She's quite forthright and not always the friendliest woman."

Autumn glared at me. I frowned. What had I done wrong?

"I'll lay the table."

Autumn shook her head in what looked like disbelief and went back into the kitchen. Seriously, why was she mad at me? Had she eavesdropped on our conversation? Had I said anything that could have upset her? I couldn't remember anything offensive.

When Sam, Emily, Emma and Adrian arrived, Autumn welcomed them with a shy smile. She stiffened as Emily hugged her, but then she relaxed and hugged her back.

"Can I help you in the kitchen?" Emily asked. Autumn shook her head and motioned to the table for them to sit down. I followed her into the kitchen. She was glaring again.

"Why are you mad at me?" I was close to being desperate. Of course she didn't answer. She just rushed past me with two bowls that she placed on the table. She sat down next to Emma and looked daggers at me. I sat down opposite of her next to Sam. Emily on his other side asked:

"Are you alright, Embry? You look kind of sick."

"I'm fine. Just haven't had much sleep lately."

She looked from me to Autumn and back again.

"Have you two been arguing?"

"No, at least I think we haven't. But I might have just missed it, because for some reason Autumn is mad at me and I have no idea why."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"That's my point. I don't know!"

"Well then, make a guess", Emily suggested, "What had just happened when she started to be mad at you?"

She winked at Autumn.

"My Mom had just left the house", I shrugged.

"Oh, I see", Emily said.

"You do?" Sam and I asked simultaneously.

"Oh, come on, guys, is it really that difficult to understand? You have been arguing with your mother, haven't you, Embry?"

"Um, a bit, maybe. Actually today was a good day. She didn't yell once."

"Nevertheless you have been arguing. Autumn lost both of her parents. To her it looks like you aren't grateful for still having a mother who cares about you. She thinks you can be lucky to have her and should enjoy every moment you have with her. Don't you, honey?" she asked Autumn who nodded and smiled at her.

"See", Emily stated.

"It's not my fault my Mom's always mad at me" I mumbled.

"You could tell her, you know", Sam suggested.

"Yes, I know. And I actually offered her to do so today, in exchange for my father's name."

"What did she say?" Sam asked eagerly.

"She's got to think about it", I replied and turned to Autumn, "I'm planning to make peace with her, alright? It's just complicated."

Autumn nodded approvingly.

"Autumn, this is really, really good. I love it!" Emily said referring to the food. Autumn had made mashed potatoes and some mix of hash, carrots and leek. It was delicious indeed, although it could have contained some more meat and fewer vegetables to Sam's and my mind. At least it wasn't vegetarian.

"Why don't you speak?" Adrian suddenly asked Autumn.

"Adrian!" Emily scolded, "That's impolite!"

I could tell that Emily made it into Autumn's heart as the evening progressed. Emily was good in reading Autumn's thoughts and chatted with her as much as Autumn's silence allowed.

Later we heard a wolf howling in the woods. I recognized Sky's voice and was immediately worried, because he neither howled in the pack-meeting-required way nor in the vampire-track-found way. He howled for help and he sounded extremely desperate. I got up.

"I've got to leave. Sorry, Autumn."

* * *

_If you thought the incident with Autumn's father was dramatic, brace yourselves. The real drama is just about to start. Sorry for the cliffhanger ;)_


	7. Chapter 7

_KittyPimms :) I can count on you to make my day. Thank you so much! No food in this chapter, but I don't promise anything for the next ;)_

* * *

**Fight**

I rushed out the back door, undressed without even stopping and phased.

'Help, help, help! Hurry up, guys, please!' Sky whined in his thoughts. I could see him running at the edge of the cliffs and turned in his direction, picking up speed.

'What happened, Sky? What's wrong?'

'They're chasing me! They're fast. They're close!' he said in panic.

'Who, Sky? Who is after you?'

'Vampires! At least four! Maybe six. Maybe more!'

I could see two bloodsuckers appear right in front of him. He turned skidding and dashed into the woods. Two others cut him off and he turned back to the cliffs.

'Keep running, Sky. We're on our way.'

Aaron and Leah had been on patrol with him and were closest, though they'd still need several minutes to reach him. I could tell that all the others had phased as well, except Zack. I growled. This damn sluggard! I howled, putting as much Alpha force into it as I could summon up.

Meanwhile, Sky found himself in front of two leeches again, turned to the woods, stopped because there were two others and wanted to run back the way he'd come from, but there were another two bloodsuckers.

'Crap! I'm trapped!' he freaked out.

'Stay calm, Sky!'

Sky was the weakest wolf in the pack and not able to take down a single vampire on his own, let alone six. He was the swiftest though, which might be the reason why it had taken the vampires so long to trap him. They didn't attack right away. They crouched slightly. Sky growled and bared his teeth. He took a step back, towards the sheer.

'Be careful, Sky. Don't jump off the cliff. You know the vampires have the edge over us in the water.'

'They have the edge over me already now!'

'Yes. Keep calm! Now, listen, you can't wait until they attack because then you're doomed. You've got to break through and run for it again. You won't outrun them, but you'll gain time. You can do that, Sky. You'll survive this day. Now find a hole in their line and breach it!'

His eyes went anxiously over the six bloodsuckers. A blond one chuckled.

"He's afraid", he detected.

"Do you really think he could kill one of us?" the smallest of them asked.

"Well, two of them _have_ killed Walter. So, yes, he can!" the only woman declared.

'Sky! Break through before they attack!' I ordered.

'But where?' he asked. He seemed to have some kind of blackout. He couldn't concentrate.

"But they were allies of the Cullens in their nearly-battle with the Volturi. They can't be completely hostile against our kind", the leech next to the woman said.

"Doesn't change that they killed our friend!" she complained.

"Bertha, you know what we're here for!"

'To the right, Sky. Hustle the rightmost leech over the edge. Now!'

Sky turned quicker to the right than anyone else of us could have turned. He ran head-on into the red-haired bloodsucker that hadn't said a word yet and pushed him over the edge of the cliff before sprinting off.

'Well done, Sky. Now, everyone, we've got to be together when we meet them. They can't get the chance to take us down one by one. Leah, Aaron, slow down. The rest, pick up speed.'

I felt Zack phasing.

'Took you quite a while, Zack. Sky's in deep trouble and you think you don't give a shit, cause it's not your problem. But I tell you something: It _is_ your problem, because if Sky died, you'd take over his patrol shifts in addition to yours. Now move your lazy butt over here! Why are you not running already?'

In his mind, I could see him pick up speed. Sky panted.

'I'm exhausted! I cannot run another mile!' he whined.

'You can, Sky. Don't worry, I think we'll meet you in about a minute', I assured him.

'What can be so trouble-causing that eight wolfs aren't enough to handle it?' Zack complained.

'Well, how about six vampires?'

'Oh.'

I was a good guesser. A minute later I could see Sky approaching me. To my sides the other pack members – excluding Zack – showed up.

'Perfect timing, guys. Seth, Leah, off to the sides, you'll be attacking the vampires from behind.'

They both left out of my sight. The vampires were right on Sky's heels. They slowed down when they saw us.

"What are we gonna do now?" the blond said.

"There are six. Let's back out and wait for Arthur to catch up", the one who I assumed to be the leader and the mate of the woman suggested. They turned and went the other way, but not very fast. They wanted us to follow.

'Leah, Seth, show yourselves.'

The two of them cut the five leeches off. The vampires stopped, unsure whether to attack them or not. Then we had already encircled them.

'Don't attack yet. Let me think. Seth, Leah, the brown-haired leader with the leather jacket is yours. Aaron, the smallest for you. Collin, Sky, you take the blond. Chad and

Simon, the woman. That leaves the last one for me. Attack at three. One –', the leader interrupted my thought.

"Okay, wolves, I think you can understand me. We're friends of the Cullens. We don't mean you any harm. So, maybe we could just separate in peace."

'Friends of the Cullens?' Seth asked, 'What shall we do now? If they are close to the Cullens they might hate us for killing them.'

'I don't trust him', I thought growling, 'But I'm curious why their coven is so large. I thought only vegetarians and disciplined Volturi guards are able to live together in groups larger than four.'

"Okay, that growl didn't sound as if you accepted my peace offer. What about a truce? Can we… talk… somehow? I mean, the Cullens must have communicated with you somehow to get you on their side, too."

'They weren't among the witnesses the Cullens gathered against the Volturi. They can't be very close friends', Collin thought.

'Seth, watch your back! The missing leech is joining us!' I warned. Seth and Chad, who stood next to him, stepped aside to let the red-haired bloodsucker enter the circle. The leech stopped though and hesitated to do so.

"Wow, those are many. It was nice to be with you for a while, guys, but I think I prefer the life of a loner. See you!"

He turned away. The other vampires hissed angrily at him.

"Coward!" the woman yelled. Zack approached from the direction the red-haired was headed to.

'Zack, Seth, take him down. Everyone else stay put, but don't let the others out of the circle.'

Seth rushed after the redhead. Zack and Seth lunged themselves at him at the same time, buried their teeth in his arms and pulled into opposite directions, ripping the arms out. The blond made a step towards them. Chad growled and bared his teeth at him. The leader said:

"Don't help him. He left us!"

The vampires watched how Seth and Zack killed their former friend. The one that I had assigned to me swallowed.

"Oh my God, Oscar, you have to make them let us leave", he pleaded in a voice so low he must have thought we couldn't hear. Zack and Seth left the remaining parts of the redhead alone and joined us. We had to put them on fire in less than half an hour.

"Impressive", the leader admitted, "But I can only repeat that we don't mean you any harm. We are not like other vampires."

'They are. They have red eyes', Leah stated.

"You are some kind of werewolves, aren't you? You can turn into humans."

'Damn it, I hoped he thought we were some kind of large wolf species.'

"Why don't you attack? What are you waiting for? You want peace yourselves, you just don't know it yet, right?"

'Yes, Embry, why aren't we attacking already?' Zack questioned.

'I'm letting everyone of us recover from the run. I'll go ask him some questions. If anyone of them makes a move to attack, you attack as well. Zack, if I can't phase back in time, you take on my target, the one with long brown hair. If I'm already phased back, you support Aaron with the smallest', I ordered.

'Embry, don't! What questions could be worth this risk?' Seth begged.

'I'm curious what he meant by saying they aren't like other vampires', I said backing away and behind a tree.

'Curious? Embry! That's', I cut him off by phasing back. Only then I noticed I had no cut-offs with me to pull on. Sky seemed to have noticed my trouble, left the circle and let me pull his shorts from the bond at his hind leg. He quickly returned and I pulled the shorts on and stepped out behind the trees. The leader smiled self-confidently.

"I knew you were half human. I could smell it."

"If you'd know the Cullens better you'd have known exactly what we are", I replied, "When have you last met them? We haven't heard of them in a while and would like to hear some news."

"Oh, it's been a while for us, too."

"Have you already met Jasper's and Rosalie's child?" I asked, trying to figure out how well they really knew the Cullens.

"No, unfortunately not. Nessie is her name, isn't it?" he asked. So Nessie's name had spread among the vampire population. I fake smiled at him.

"Yes, it is, but Jasper and Rosalie aren't her parents. They aren't even a couple. I don't think you even have met the Cullens before, even less I believe that you're friends with them."

He cleared his throat.

"Touché. But you are friends with them, right? So, since that proves that you aren't completely hostile against our kind, we could become friends as well."

"Maybe. But, to be honest, we don't trust vampires easily. Tell us about yourselves."

"Okay. I'm Oscar, this is my mate Bertha and these are Andrew", he pointed to the blond, "Lewis", the small one, "and Fred", my target. "We all are about one to two centuries old, every one of us is a born American", but not Native American.

"Why do you think you're different from other vampires?"

"Because we rarely kill."

I frowned skeptically.

"Really? How come your eyes are red then? You must have fed recently and apparently not on animals."

"We don't kill the humans we get our blood from."

"What else could you do? Turn everyone?"

"No. We let them live. We just take a blood donation from them and release them afterwards. Or we simply steal the blood packs from hospitals."

Did that make them good? I wasn't sure.

"Why is your coven this large? Seven vampires together, doesn't that cause a lot of stress and trouble? I thought vampires are always jealous about food and don't like to have too many rivals."

"Yes, but we can manage it somehow. Every one of us has his own special task at which he's an expert. We need each other. That's why, I think."

"How do you get these blood donations?"

"We hide behind the façade of a charity. We make humans donate their blood voluntarily by telling them that we will pass it down to hospitals. Now that I've told you every secret about us", the leader continued, "would you tell us about yourselves as well? Or, I should ask first, could you imagine to be friends with us or at least make a truce with us?"

I wasn't sure. About the truce, at least. Being friends and telling them about us was out of the question. I looked at my pack mates. Seth shook his head no, as if he knew I needed an advice.

"You only ask for peace and friendship because you're afraid of us. You know we can take you down."

"Well, I know that two of you can take down one of us. The question is: Can you only take one of us down in a team of at least two? Because although you outnumber us, you're not enough that two of you could attack one of us. One of us might get out of here. And since we are friends, he will revenge us. Our coven is larger than you think. You haven't even met half of us. The survivor would return with the rest to hunt you down. But that's not necessary. You can let us go and we'll leave in peace."

I had slowly backed away. Although still in their sight, I quickly pulled off Sky's shorts and the second they landed on the ground I phased, instantly thinking 'Attack!'

I lunged myself at the leech called Fred, grabbed a thick strand of his hair in my mouth and pulled away, getting myself out of the reach of his hands and forcing him down. Vampires couldn't grow any new hair, that's why it was much more attached to their head than human hair. Fred landed on his stomach and immediately I was on his back, biting into his neck and ripping his head out. After that, the rest was easy.

'What's happening? What was I gonna do right now?' Collin seemed totally confused.

'What's wrong with you, Collin? Attack the blond, for heaven's sake!' I ordered while I went to help Aaron who lay on his back, pinned to the ground by the small leech. I could remember that sometime during my fight with Fred Aaron had told Zack to help Seth and Leah who had trouble with the leader.

"I wonder how wolf tastes" the tiny leech chuckled and bared his teeth just an inch above Aaron's neck. I lunged myself at him, pushing him off Aaron. Together, we were able to take him down, although I was being distracted every few seconds because either Collin or Sky got confused and wondered what they were about to do. In one of these moments the blond vampire jumped in the air and landed in the branches of a fir. He then jumped from tree to tree, never coming close enough to the ground that Sky or Collin could snap him. He fled. Finally, the four other vampires lay in pieces in front of us. Seth phased back, put them on fire, gathered the pieces of the redhead and threw them into the fire as well. Collin and Sky were still following the blond.

'Well done, everybody. Collin, Sky, are you alright?'

'Um, I don't know' Sky said.

'Yeah, I can't quite remember how we got into this fight', Collin admitted, 'I can't even remember that I phased.'

'I'm feeling a bit dizzy', Sky admitted, 'can someone else chase this leech so that I can go home? Do I have patrol? I don't know anymore.'

'Yes, you have, but you may go home. Zack will take over for you.'

'What? Why me?' Zack complained instantly.

'Because you ignored Sky's howl for help. Go after them, now! Is everybody else alright? Any bones broken?'

Broken bones were the only kind of injuries that needed a few hours to heal. Any other wounds would heal within minutes. Nobody spoke up.

'Well then. Except for Aaron, Leah, Collin and Zack, you're all dismissed. Collin and Zack, you'll follow that leech and try to kill it. If he meets up with other vampires, you back away immediately. If he goes to Port Angeles, come back. Aaron and Leah, you have to remind them of their task if they get confused again. I think that leech has some confusing gift. Meanwhile you'll patrol the borders as always. Seth and I will take over patrol at midnight. Zack, you'll stay with us then, it's a double shift for you.'

'Not fair!' he complained.

'Maybe this teaches you to be comradelier the next time one of us is in trouble.'

I rushed back home. Autumn had already gone to bed and Emily and her kids had gone, but Sam waited for me.

"What happened?"

"Six vampires chased Sky. They were friends of the one Leah and I killed last Wednesday. One escaped, but we killed the others."

Sam nodded.

"The leader said they belong to a much larger coven. If that's true, we might have started a war. I want to doubt that, though, cause the Cullens would have mentioned it eventually if there was another large coven besides them, the Denalis and the Volturi."

"Yeah. Maybe the leader only wanted to scare you. Let's hope for it."

"Yeah", I sighed.

"Emily loves Autumn. She would very much like to adopt her."

"Great. The CPS is coming tomorrow after school. Maybe you could come over so that they can talk to you as well."

Which reminded me that I still hadn't told Autumn.

"I've got to work. But I'm sure Emily will come."

"Okay. Um, sorry, I don't want to kick you out, but I've got one and a half hours left before I have to patrol and I really need to sleep."

"Alright. See you, Embry."

"See you."

* * *

_Please review!  
_

* * *

_So horrible what happened in Newtown. Such young and totally innocent victims :( News like this always get me close to tears. I'm feeling with the relatives.  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_Thank You, KittyPimms :)_

* * *

**Taming the rebel**

I phased at midnight and stretched my four legs to get the sleepiness out of my body.

'Hey, Embry. For your interest: Zack phased back the second we could feel your phasing. Shall we go kick his ass?' Aaron asked.

'No, I'll kick his ass. That was the last straw! Can you stay until I'm back with Zack?'

'Sure.'

I ran to Zack's house and phased back. I entered without knocking and stopped on the doormat. Dave was standing on the other side of the hallway, holding a glass of water and staring at me.

"What the hell are you doing here? Trying to break in?"

I didn't answer his question.

"Is Zack home?"

"Yeah, he returned just a minute ago."

I headed to his room, but I stopped in the middle of the stairs and turned back to Dave. I realized that he had grown again.

"Zack _is_ a rebel. Definitely."

"Whatever", Dave shrugged. I went on and stormed into Zack's room. He was lying on his bed and jumped at my entering. I grabbed his ear and pulled him with me.

"Ugh! Embry, let go!"

He punched my stomach. I grunted, but ignored the pain. We rushed past Dave who chuckled. Zack started to shake. That was what I wanted. He phased when we entered the forest. I phased as well and lunged myself at him. I had pinned him to the ground before he could even notice my attack. I buried my teeth in his neck, injuring him lightly on purpose. He yelped and whimpered.

'I am your Alpha!' I declared.

'I know, I know! I'm sorry!' he whined.

'You better be! You know your double shift is justified, don't you?'

'Yes, I know.'

'No more patrol ditching.'

'Okay!'

'When called you come immediately.'

'Alright.'

'No more disobeying at all.'

'Yeah, okay, I'll behave. Promise!'

I released him and he stood up, keeping his head ducked low in a gesture of submission. I was content with myself. Maybe this would finally teach him to obey.

'Thanks for waiting, Collin and Aaron.' Leah had obviously phased back. I didn't blame her. With Aaron, Collin and Seth there were enough wolves on patrol.

'So, Collin, what about the leech?' I asked.

'Escaped to Port Angeles. He stayed in the trees the whole way and jumped from branch to branch like a squirrel.'

'Damn it! We have to pay very careful attention during the next patrols. If he comes back with an army, we're doomed. I'll better call the Cullens in the morning. Maybe they'll come to help us. Good night, Aaron, Collin.'

'Peaceful patrol!' Collin wished before phasing back.

'See you', Aaron said and phased back as well.

At the end of my patrol in the next morning I headed to Olympic National Park for work and ordered Seth to care for Autumn and give her a ride to school. The first thing I did when I was in my office was to call Jacob.

"Hey, Em!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Jake."

"What's that sepulchral voice about? Somebody died?" he asked becoming serious.

"Not yet. We had an encounter with six vampires last night. One escaped. The problem is, they said they belong to an even larger coven which consists of at least eight other leeches. If that's true, the survivor will certainly gather them and come back for revenge. We're nine wolfs at the moment, because Leah started phasing again. That makes us even in number, but you know it's hard to kill a leech all alone and I'm afraid they could take us down one by one or in small groups. So, to cut a long story short, I was wondering if you and the Cullens would help."

"Leah phased again?" Jake asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. You know John was a creep and he wasn't sober often lately. Leah got really pissed off when she found out that he's been cheating on her for two years. She phased in front of him. Hopefully she threatened him enough to keep his mouth shut. Anyway, that's the least of our problems right now. Can you come?"

"Um, yeah, sure, I mean, it's quite bad timing right now. Nessie, Emmett, Rosalie and I are going to come, but the rest is currently in Volterra to schmooze Aro and since they only arrived yesterday evening they can hardly leave soon. We can't risk upsetting the Volturi."

"Where are we going?" I could hear Rosalie ask in the background. She must have just entered the room, because otherwise she would have heard me explain our problem. "And since when are you in charge here, Jacob? Don't we get to have a word in this as well?"

"We're going to La Push. The pack's in trouble", Jake explained.

"Come on, babe", I heard Emmett say, "That's going to be fun! We get to fight!"

Jake chuckled.

"Okay, Em, we'll leave in a few minutes. But you know we are across the country. We'll try to get a flight to Seattle. But don't expect us before the evening. If there's no flight available, we'll take the car, but that's a two-day journey, although we won't take any breaks. I'll call the others in Italy and ask them when they could leave."

"Thanks, Jake. And maybe you could keep your fingers crossed that they just lied to scare us and that this large coven doesn't exist."

"Yes, hopefully that's the case. I think we would have heard of a coven that size if there was one. Nonetheless we should expect the worse. Hold out, we're on our way."

He hung up the phone and I was a bit relieved. An hour later I got a text from Jake: _No flights available. See you in about 48 hours._

I left work early to be in time for picking Autumn up after her last class. Her face lit up when she saw my silver Forester. She had to pass Dave and his friends who were leaning against an old VW Jetta.

"Hey, mute!" Dave said, "Wanna be my girlfriend? I always wanted a girl that doesn't argue and act all bitchy."

He smirked. Autumn kept her head down and hurried past him. He grabbed her arm and held her back. I was out of the car immediately.

"Hey! It's not polite to not answer people's questions! Say sorry!" he demanded and shook her lightly. She looked up to him, both apologetically and pleading. I had reached the group by then.

"Let her go, Dave", I ordered as calmly as I could manage.

Autumn sighed in relief, although Dave still held on to her.

"Piss off, Call! I'm not Zack. You can't order me around like him. And you aren't in authority here."

I can't order you _yet_, I corrected in my mind. I grabbed his arm tightly.

"Release her."

I tightened my grip until he finally let go of her. I released him as well.

"Apologize", I ordered.

Autumn shook her head and tried to pull me away from the guys. But I stood adamantly and glared at Dave.

"Apologize to her!"

"No! I just wanted an answer from her! She should apologize for not giving it to me!"

"You know that she doesn't speak. I saw the apology in her eyes. Now it's your turn."

One of his friends elbowed him and hissed:

"Just say sorry! You know he can beat up all of us at once!"

I sent him an approving look.

"At least one of you is smart enough to accept my superiority."

"Smart? Leroy? He's a coward, that's all", Dave stated.

"Can I talk to you for a minute in private, Dave?" I asked, changing my tactics.

"No", he replied cautiously. Who was the coward now?

"Well then. I've noticed you've been growing fast lately and you've been gaining some muscles. I assume some of your class mates might think that you're on steroids."

"I'm not!"

"I know. I know exactly what's happening to you at the moment. Did you know that, in the beginning, there were the same rumors about me, your brother, everyone who is or was a member of my so-called gang? We all did this growth spurt in combination with muscle gain. I'm 99 percent sure that you'll join us before this year has reached its end. And I know that Autumn will get her apology then. You will be under my thumb just like Zack. Get accustomed to that thought. And if you continue bothering Autumn I'll make your life a living hell."

Dave blinked a few times. He chuckled nervously.

"Yeah. Sure."

He tried to make it sound like he didn't believe me. But I knew he did. I laid an arm around Autumn's shoulders and led her to the car.

"Well, that was weird", one of Dave's friends whispered.

"And creepy", another one added.

Autumn and I got in the car.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. She nodded.

"How was your day? Did Seth take great care of you this morning?"

Nod.

"Good. Um, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but somehow I couldn't find the best moment for it. The CPS is going to visit this afternoon."

She turned to me, but her face was expressionless.

"Emily will come over as well. So, what do you think after yesterday evening? Would you like to move in with them?"

She nodded her head eagerly.

"That's great. Although I'll miss you. May I visit?"

She smiled at me and nodded. Emily had already arrived and was busy in the kitchen. The smell of muffins filled the house.

"You made muffins! You're so awesome, Em!" I cheered.

"Thank you, Em", she replied. We sometimes joked like this about the fact that we both had the same nickname. I wanted to grab a muffin, but she slapped my hand away.

"Not yet! They are primarily for the CPS people!" she complained and turned to Autumn with a huge smile on her face. "Do you want a muffin, Autumn?"

I crossed my arms.

"That's not fair! Why does she get one and I don't?"

Autumn hesitated to except her offer, but Emily simply handed her a muffin.

"Because she is a skinny girl, still in her growth phase and because I know she won't eat all of them."

"I wouldn't either!"

"I spent five years feeding you guys. I know you would."

Autumn giggled.

"Just one!" I pleaded. "I'm starving!"

Emily turned to the counter, grabbed an apple and threw it to me. I caught it mid-air. It would only satisfy my hunger a tiny bit, but at least it was something. Wait. This was my kitchen. My fridge. Okay, in fact it was Seth's kitchen and Seth's fridge but usually I was the one to stop by at the grocery store on my way back home from work to fill the fridge. Emily held her hands protectively over the muffins when I went past her and to the fridge. I grabbed a package of lasagna and microwaved it. Autumn left and went upstairs, probably to make homework.

"Sam told me about the six vampires", Emily said, "Have any more showed up yet?"

"No, not yet. I called Jake for help. He, Nessie, Emmett and Rosalie are on their way to help if necessary."

"What about the other Cullens? Wouldn't Alice, Bella and Edward be more of a help?"

"Yes, but they're in Italy right now."

The microwave peeped and I shook my head to get rid of these worrying thoughts.

"So", Emily started, "Autumn spoke to you on Friday night and Saturday morning, didn't she? Is she still talking to you?"

"No", I said sadly.

"Why not?"

I shrugged.

"She stopped somewhere in the middle of the incident with her father. I guess I've got to be patient. She started talking to me once, she'll do it again."

"Yes, maybe. Unless she came to the conclusion that talking to you was a mistake. Then she might keep silent forever. You know that happens sometimes. When people, especially children, go through a rough time, they sometimes stop talking and become so-called selective mutes. Eventually they totally forget how to speak and have trouble with it even when they try."

"Oh my God."

Emily stroke my arm comfortingly.

"Don't worry. I'll do everything I can to make her feel safe and beloved, so that she hopefully gathers the courage to restart speaking. And I know you'll do the same. Together we'll break down her walls."

I nodded, not completely convinced. The doorbell rang.

"That's got to be the CPS", I said and went to welcome them. Emily followed me. Two women in their mid-forties, one blond, the other brunette, stood on the porch.

"Good afternoon", the blonde greeted, "Child Protective Service, I'm Heather Jones."

We shook hands.

"Embry Call. Nice to meet you."

"Dawn Cantrell. Nice to meet you, too", the brunette said.

"I'm Emily Uley."

"Please come in", I invited.

"Autumn's upstairs. Shall I go get her or shall we talk without her first?" Emily asked.

"Without her is fine", Mrs. Jones stated. We sat down in the living room and Emily placed the plate with the muffins on the table.

"Please help yourself. Can I get you something to drink?" she asked.

"A coffee would be nice. Thank you", Mrs. Cantrell replied.

"For me, too, please", Mrs. Jones said. Mrs. Cantrell turned to me.

"So, Mr. Call, you are the one who informed the police, right?"

"Yes, that's right. And I'm caring for Autumn at the moment."

"Oh. I thought Mrs. Uley would be the one. No offense, but she's older than you are. You are only a few years older than Autumn yourself, aren't you?"

"Um, yes, I'm twenty-one", I lied.

"Excuse me if I'm wrong", Mrs. Jones said, "but aren't you the one who got shot by Mr. Hunt? Shouldn't you be in hospital?"

"It was just a graze. I'm fine."

Emily returned with the coffee.

"Thank you", Mrs. Cantrell said, "Um, may I ask what your part is in this? We are also a bit confused because the sign at the door says Clearwater."

"Yes. Seth Clearwater is the current owner of this house. He's sharing it with Embry and another friend though. We all don't want Autumn to get rooted up again and we would like to spare her the foster homes. My husband and I would like to adopt her."

"Oh, okay. We will definitely consider that. Now, Mr. Call, could you repeat for us what Mr. Hunt did to Autumn?"

I sighed and told them everything I knew.

"How do you know so much? I thought Autumn is a selective mute since her mother died."

"She trusts me. Friday night, after the first nearly-rape, she texted me to come and started speaking. I brought her to the hospital because of the broken wrist and the doctor who is a friend of mine told me about all the bruises. But Autumn lost her speech again when her father nearly raped her again on Saturday."

"Why didn't she move in with you and your husband right away, Mrs. Uley?"

"She only met us on Friday. And since she seemed to trust Embry most, even more than her new best friend at school, and he is responsible enough to care for a teenage girl, it seemed the best solution."

"What does she think about moving in with a family she only knows for three days?"

"She likes Emily a lot", I said, "You can ask her yourself. She would like to live with them."

"Okay. Mrs. Uley, could you tell us a bit about your environment? Do you have own children? What about your and your husband's profession?"

"We have a ten-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. My husband is a fitness trainer. He is also an elder of the tribe. I teach tribal art at the reservation school and on weekends I cook at the local restaurant. One of us is always home when the kids aren't at school."

"Can you afford another child?"

"Yes, we can. And we will love her like one of our own. She's so adorable."

"Do you have a spare room for her or would she have to share a room with your daughter?"

"We have a guest room that Autumn can have."

"May I ask how old you are?"

"Thirty-two. My husband is thirty-four."

"Alright. I think you can become Autumn's foster parents. At the moment her father is still her legal guardian. You could only adopt her with his permission, which he probably wouldn't give. But I'm sure that if the court finds him guilty, he will be deprived of the guardianship and then we can talk about an adoption. What about this – provided that Autumn really wants to live with you – she can already move in with you. We'll come back on Friday with the documents to settle the formalities and to have a look at Autumn's new home."

Emily smiled happily.

"Alright."

"Okay. Can you go call Autumn then?"

"I'll do that", I said getting up.

* * *

_It's nearly Christmas, so please, please present me with some reviews. They would make me so happy!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks for reviewing, KittyPimms! Were you hungry again? Or how did the 'good' foster home become a 'food' foster home? Okay, it was just a typo, but it made me laugh :) Dave's going to get it really soon. Fate has it in for him. I almost feel sorry for him_.

* * *

**Free night**

I went upstairs to my room. Autumn sat at the desk and was writing an essay.

"Hey, Autumn. The CPS is downstairs." I put a hand on her shoulder and caressed it comfortingly with my thumb. "Looks like you can move in with Sam and Emily. They want to ask you some questions. Do you think you can answer them? They know you don't speak, so all you have to do is nod or shake your head."

She sighed and nodded. I walked ahead of her out of the room when she startled me by taking my hand. She blushed slightly and looked at me with a pleading look. Translation: she needed someone to hold on to when they asked her about her father. And she wanted this someone to be me, not Emily. I smiled reassuringly at her and led her down into the living room. The two CPS women introduced themselves to her and shook her hand which she immediately entwined with mine again afterwards.

"Mr. Call, Mrs. Uley, would you be so kind to leave us alone with her? We don't want her answers to be influenced by your presence."

"Of course", Emily said and headed to the stairs. Autumn tightened her grip on my hand, mouthed a No and pleaded me desperately with her eyes to stay.

"Autumn wants me to stay", I declared.

"You do, Autumn?" Mrs. Jones asked her. She nodded her head decisively.

"Well then."

We sat down. I laid one arm around Autumn's shoulders and squeezed her hand encouragingly. Mrs. Cantrell raised her eyebrows.

"Are you two dating? She's a bit young for you, Mr. Call."

"We aren't dating. We're just very good friends", I corrected. Autumn smiled and nodded.

"Okay. So, Autumn, what do you think of moving in with Mr. and Mrs. Uley? Would you like that?"

Autumn nodded.

"Is there anybody else you would prefer to live with?"

Autumn hesitated. Then she nodded and gave me a telling look. I chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Autumn", Mrs Jones said, "but Mr. Call isn't old enough."

Autumn frowned. I whispered into her ear.

"They think I'm twenty-one. They mustn't know my real age."

Now she frowned at me.

"Autumn, in this case, are you sure that you want to live with the Uleys? We can search for other foster parents for you."

Autumn shook her head horror-stricken.

"Okay, fine. Now", Mrs. Cantrell's voice became softer, "I have to ask you some dolorous questions. Your father was drunk nearly every day?" Autumn nodded.

"He was aggressive, beat you often and caused you a lot of bruises?" Autumn looked down and nodded. She tightened her grip on my hand again and I squeezed hers.

"He tried to rape you at least twice?" Autumn breathed out shakily. I caressed her arm and she nodded subtly. A tear escaped her eye and I wiped it away.

"I'm sorry, Autumn. Just one more question. Did he ever succeed in raping you?"

She shook her head and buried it in my chest. I rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Okay. That was all. Mrs. Uley?" Mrs. Cantrell called. Emily appeared on top of the stairs within seconds.

"Yes?"

"Which time on Friday will both you and your husband be home?"

"At about 5 p.m. But I have to leave for work at 6."

"Okay. Then we'll come at five. Alright? Oh, and we need your address of course."

Emily came down and wrote down their address while Autumn had started sobbing into my chest.

"Thank you. See you on Friday, Mrs. Uley! Goodbye Mr. Call! See you, Autumn!" Mrs. Cantrell said. Mrs. Jones just smiled and waved at us. Emily led them to the door.

"Shhh, Autumn, everything's fine", I whispered, "he can't hurt you anymore."

Emily came back and looked sympathetically at Autumn. She cleared the table and washed the dishes in the kitchen while Autumn slowly calmed down. Finally she sat up and wiped the last tears away. She touched my tear-soaked shirt and looked at me apologetically.

"Never mind, Autumn. My shoulder will always be free for you to cry on."

She smiled faintly.

"So, the CPS women said you can move in with Sam and Emily. Shall we go pack your stuff?"

She shook her head.

"No?" I frowned, "Why not?"

She pointed to herself and then down to the couch we were sitting on.

"You want to stay?"

She nodded and I smiled.

"That means a lot to me, but unfortunately that's not an option. Maybe we can ask Emily if you can stay another night, but tomorrow you have to move."

She stood up and pulled me into the kitchen to Emily where she then looked at me prompting.

"Autumn would like to stay another night. Can I bring her and her stuff around tomorrow after school?"

"Of course", Emily replied and stroked Autumn's hair. "You don't have to worry. I'm sure Embry will spend as much time at our house as you want him to, as long as he can arrange that time with his working hours. I have to leave now. I dropped Emma at the Den and Leah is probably busy with the cooking, so I have to go and pick my other daughter up. But we'll meet again for dinner later at the Den, I guess."

Autumn's eyes brightened up when Emily said 'other daughter'. She hugged Emily who happily hugged her back. When Emily had left, Autumn pulled me upstairs to my room where she motioned meaningfully to my bed while she sat down at the desk again.

"I don't want to sleep now. I want to be there for you."

Autumn crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

She nodded confidently. I sighed and lied down on my bed.

"Wake me for dinner, okay?"

I definitely needed the sleep and was out within seconds. When I woke up it was dark outside. Autumn was gone and there were voices in the hallway.

"You can sleep in my bed", Seth offered, "I've got stuff to do tonight anyway."

I jumped up and out of my room. Both Seth and Autumn turned to me quickly, surprise on their faces.

"What time is it? Why didn't you wake me up, Autumn?"

"It's ten p.m. Autumn thought you needed a good deal of sleep. Aaron will… Autumn, would you mind getting to bed? I've got to tell Embry some private stuff. Don't worry, I'll make sure he goes back to bed."

Autumn smiled at him, waved and went to Seth's room.

"Aaron will take over your shift so that you can sleep through the night."

I frowned.

"Why? That's not necessary! Why should he make a double-shift while I sleep lazily? Being the Alpha doesn't give me the right to ditch patrol!"

"Nobody accuses you of ditching. Seriously, although you already slept about five hours you still look awful. You've been getting the least sleep of all of us and we all know that. You have a job with fixed working hours and an imprint that needs you. Everyone else of us can either work less because he's his own boss and/or doesn't have an imprint that needs his time. We have all agreed that you deserve a free night. Even Zack admitted that he got at least twice as much sleep as you. So don't play the hero, but go back to bed. We have everything under control."

"No vampires sighted today?"

"Um, actually there were some. Two in the morning and one in the late afternoon. They stayed in the trees like that blond confuser. But they only watched. They didn't attack, nor did they try to communicate. And they stayed outside of the reservation's borders."

"Why did nobody howl?"

"Leah joined the patrol since she had nothing else to do, so there were actually four wolves on patrol. Chad and Collin stayed in sight of the leeches to watch them while Leah and Simon checked the borders to make sure it wasn't some kind of gamesmanship. You know Chad and Collin are both capable of taking a vampire down alone. There was no need to call help."

I sighed.

"What are these bloodsuckers up to?"

"I have no idea. Is Jake on his way?"

"Yes, together with Nessie, Emmett and Rosalie. The other Cullens are in Italy. Jake won't arrive before Wednesday morning."

"Don't worry. We'll stand up to those leeches. Now, go back to bed or I'll knock you unconscious. Like I said, everything's under control."

"Okay. But I want you to howl, even if there's only one vampire. You can never know how many more there are behind the next trees – or rather in the next trees since they seem to like to act like squirrels."

"Alright, we'll howl at the first sight of leech-pale skin."

I patted his shoulder and went back to bed.

At about 5 in the morning Seth howled. I jumped out of my window and phased before my feet touched the ground.

'It's just one, Embry, no need to hurry.'

I could feel the others phase as well.

'What's the leech doing? Just sitting in a tree, watching, like the others?' I asked.

'Yup. Oh, he's moving.'

Seth growled and Aaron and Zack, who were with him, bared their teeth. The leech just chuckled and jumped to the next tree, crossing the invisible line that marked the border of the reservation.

'I thought they didn't cross the borders?' I demanded to know.

Seth, Aaron and Zack followed the leech and kept growling.

'They didn't. Until now.'

The leech went on jumping from tree to tree, getting closer and closer to the houses of La Push, finally ending on a pine in the backyard of Ruby Summers's house who was Simon's eleven-year-old imprint. We had all gathered by then and stood between the leech and the house. I ordered half the pack to go watch out for other vampires. Simon was one of those who should stay, but I wasn't sure if that was quite the right decision. He was in a rage, barked and growled furiously. His hackles were raised and his teeth exposed.

'Calm down, Simon. We don't want to wake up the Summers, do we?'

The leech watched him and chuckled again. Simon calmed a bit. The vampire pretended to jump to the house, but didn't. Simon snarled.

"What's with this house, doggy? Yours? Your family in there? Aaw, are you afraid I could harm them?" the bloodsucker fake pitied.

Another growl rose in Simon's throat.

'Simon! Stop it! By showing him how much the Summers mean to you, you show him your weakness!'

Simon's low growl faded.

'Sorry.'

The vampire went on along the border of the forest. Nobody else of us exposed his beloved when the vampire passed their houses. Several times the leech stared at me and I stared back. Why did he always stare at me and not one of the others? After one of these staring contests he cocked his head to the side.

"Are you or are you not?" he asked more himself than me. Was I what? "Yes, I think you are the Alpha."

I contained myself not to show any sign that would confirm his suggestion. I had to pay more attention to my behavior. He couldn't hear our thoughts – because than he would know for sure that I was the leader – which meant I must have shown my authority through my body language. Finally the vampire headed back into the forest. Simon and Leah followed him until it was clear that he was on his way back to Port Angeles.

The next morning I drove Autumn to school. I watched her on her way to the entrance where Olivia waited for her and hugged her. I saw Dave arrive. He glared at my car. I considered putting him over the edge to cause his phasing. We could need another wolf, even a probably rebellious one like Dave. But on the other hand, wasn't that kind of cruel? Dave would be a pup, totally inexperienced in fight and we would throw him in at the deep end of the supernatural world. I decided to ask Leah, Seth, Collin and Aaron for their opinion. My phone buzzed. It was Jake.

"Hey, Jake."

"Hey Em. How's the situation?"

"Three times there were one or two vampires, but they didn't do anything. They stayed in the trees where we couldn't reach them and simply watched."

"Okay. Then let's hope they keep peaceful a little while longer. We're in Minnesota now. Actually, the reason why I'm calling is another. Rachel just called me. She was hysterical. Honestly, I've never seen her like that before. Paul is missing. He didn't show up at work yesterday evening and doesn't answer his phone. This morning the police found his car. It had been burnt and stood on a lone parking lot, on the other side of the city than his place of work. There were no human remains in the car, so maybe he's still alive. Actually I wanted to ask if some of you could go to Seattle to look for a trace of him, but since the story of the large coven seems to be true, I'd rather you stay in La Push. We'll drop off Rosalie in Seattle so that she can look for Paul."

"Rosalie would do that? Seriously?"

Jacob chuckled.

"She's not very thrilled of having to help a whole pack of wolves, so she preferred to offer her help for a single wolf."

"That's kind of her. I hope she finds him. Alive."

"Yeah. But I swear if he has gotten himself into dirty deals, I'll kill him myself for endangering Rachel and the kids as well."

"He wouldn't. Maybe he's just a random victim."

"Maybe. Oh, um, have you spoken to Brady recently? He should be helping his pack. I mean, we can hardly imagine what the loss of an imprint really feels like, but maybe he could contain himself for a while and back his brothers up. We need every wolf that's available. And by killing vampires he could somehow avenge Brianna's death, couldn't he?"

"Yes, I'll ask him. Oh, speaking of every wolf that's available, did I already tell you that Zack's brother is on the verge of phasing? I wondered if we should try to madden him to cause his phasing. Or would that be too cruel to assail him with the supernatural world and the current danger at once? I don't even know if he would be of much help with no experience at all and he might also fight against our authority. He's a rebel like Zack."

"How much time do you give him if nobody maddens him?"

"A week. 10 days, tops. He's got the Lahote temper, so maybe less than a week."

"Okay. So he'll probably phase before the threat's over anyway. You have the official permission to madden him."

"Good. He's in school now, I'll try in the afternoon."

"Okay. And don't forget about Brady."

"Yup."

"Well then, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

* * *

_PLEASE REVIEW!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Sweets and sorrows of being Deputy Alpha**

I drove home and went on patrol.

'Embry!' Collin greeted, 'have you changed the patrol plan?'

'No. I have slept enough by now, I don't have work today and my imprint is at school. So I can patrol. Chad, take the day off.'

'What? That's not necessary! Charlie has given me the week off. Officially I'm on sick leave. If you want to free somebody from patrol, free Simon.'

'Alright. Simon, you're dismissed.'

'Thanks, Embry', Simon thought before phasing back.

'Brady?' I asked cautiously.

'What?' he snapped. Ugh, great start. Collin and Chad became extremely silent.

'I guess you have noticed that we're in a bit of trouble.' It came out more like a question.

'No. They seemed quite peaceful to me.'

'But we cannot know how long that will last. They certainly want to avenge their friends.'

'So? Not my problem.'

'Wouldn't you like to avenge Bree, too? You would get to kill some leeches.'

'I've already avenged her. I killed that bastard that killed her! And you know what? It was satisfying, but only for a short moment. In the long run it didn't soothe my sorrow at all. I cannot come back. I cannot see her house. I cannot see the beach and all the other places where I've been with her, where we were happy together.'

'You don't have to. You could stay in the woods. We are your brothers, Brady! Due to the mind connection we can imagine the extent of your suffering and we all feel horribly sorry for your loss, you know that. But we need your help right now!'

'I'm 300 miles away in Canada.'

'I don't care where you are now, as long as you start heading for La Push. Be brotherly. Help us in time of need. Please, Brady', I begged.

'Okay. But don't make a big thing of my return, none of you. No cheering, no grinning, no nudging. Understood?'

'Understood. Thank you.'

He started trotting south.

'Um, Brady… could you hurry a bit?'

'I can't run all the 300 miles at top speed, Embry. And this mountain is cliffy. As soon as I'm in the valley, I'll pick up speed. Okay?'

'Okay. Sorry. It's just… you won't make it before the night and Jake won't arrive before tomorrow morning and I'm just scared that the leeches are right now on their way to defeat us and that Jake's and your help will come too late. I'm stressed.'

'Wow, you really must be in trouble then.'

'Actually I'm not sure in how much trouble we are. The bloodsuckers stay peaceful and we can't even be sure that there are more than the five we know. Maybe it's not that large a coven as we think. But I'm expecting the worst, so I'm expecting that there are at least twice as many vampires. And I expect them to attack eventually. All the watching can't be for nothing. Maybe the others aren't in the area at the moment and they're simply spying on us to get to know us until their allies arrive.'

'Calm down, Embry', Chad said, 'Everything's going to be fine.'

'Really? I would like to see you in this situation if you were the deputy alpha. God, I await Jake's arrival eagerly so that he can take over all the responsibility and the risk of making the wrong decisions.'

'You haven't ever made a wrong decision, Embry', Collin tried to convince me, 'You're a great leader. When Sky was trapped on the cliffs you did everything to calm him and helped him to escape. During the battle with the others you reminded Sky and me again and again of our task – or so I've been told, I can't remember – although you were busy fighting, too. We will survive this. We're strong, we're experienced fighters. The leeches never fought against werewolves, except for that Blondie. We have an advantage there.'

'I should have called for help right away. Jake could be here this evening. Brady could already be here.'

'Embry! Gosh darn it! Stop that!'

I pulled myself together. Luckily no vampires showed up today.

When it was time to pick up Autumn, I phased back and drove to the Quileute tribal school. I arrived just in time to see Dave argue with another student. His friends held him back and he was shaking badly. Seems like someone else had taken over the task to enrage him. I quickly got out of the car and went over to the group. Lennie arrived there at the same time. Together we grabbed Dave each by one arm and dragged him with us towards the forest.

"Hey! Leave me alone!" he complained.

"No, you'll come with us", I replied with clenched teeth, "You can thank us later."

"You stay where you are!" Lennie ordered his friends who wanted to come after us. Dave's shaking increased. Lennie and I exchanged a glance and ran the last feet to the forest. We had merely reached the shelter of the trees when Dave phased. I phased a second later.

'What the hell was that? What's happening? Why… why are there paws where my hands are supposed to be? Crap! I must be going crazy!'

'Calm down, Dave. Ev', he jumped and cut me off.

'Woah! How comes your voice into my head? Who are you?'

'It's me, Embry. You are', again he cut me off.

'No! I don't want you in my head! Go away! God, they'll put me in a nuthouse!'

'Dave! Shut up and listen!' I ordered with alpha force. Surprisingly it worked. I could still hear the mumble of his thoughts because he was not yet able to hide them, but he didn't yell anymore.

"Hey, Embry, I'll go back and tell Autumn that you're late, okay?" Lennie asked. I nodded in his direction and then started to explain to Dave.

'You are a shape-shifter. That means you can turn into a giant wolf. I am also a wolf. And so is Zack and every other member of the so-called gang which is actually a pack. When phased, the pack can hear each other's thoughts. That's why you hear me in your head. Do you know Jacob Black? He used to live here and is still visiting sometimes.'

'Yeah, I've heard of him, but I don't know how he looks like.'

I pushed a picture of Jake in my mind.

'He's our Alpha. His grandfather has been an Alpha, too. While Jake's away, I'm his deputy. Every wolf has his place in the pack hierarchy. Seth Clearwater is my Beta. Every wolf obeys our orders. Any questions so far?'

'Why did this happen to me?'

'It's in your blood. You've inherited the gene from your father.'

'My father is a wolf as well?'

'No. The gene doesn't always show itself. Sometimes it skips a generation. Do you know the legends of our tribe?'

'Um, yes, I've heard them when I was a kid. Wait! There was something about wolves!'

'Yes, right. The legends tell the story of how our people became shape-shifters. Do you remember the Cold Ones?'

'Oh, yes, I was scared of them, actually. Why? No! You mean… No! You're kidding!'

'No, I'm not. They exist. They're our natural enemies. You know we call ourselves protectors. We protect the tribe from the Cold Ones, more commonly known as vampires.'

'Oh my God! My childhood nightmares have come to haunt me! I want to wake up now. Please, can somebody just throw a bowl of water over my head to wake me up?'

'Sorry, Dave. This is not a dream. As unbelievable as it seems, it is real. Now, to phase back, you have to calm down. Your temper will make you phase whenever you get mad. The shaking you did earlier is a warning sign that you're close to phasing. You've got to learn to control it. Now calm down, take deep breaths and think of nothing else than that you want to be in your human form again.'

'Okay. Okay. I want to be human. I want to be human', short silence, 'Am I still human? Is shape-shifter a kind of human species?'

Aaron chuckled.

'Who was that?'

'Hi. I'm Aaron. And yes, you are still human, somehow. But at the moment you're in your wolf form and you just wanted to try to phase back, right? So, concentrate. You want to phase back.'

'Okay. Phase back. I can do that. Calm down. Breathe deep. Human form. Human', his thought was cut off when he phased back. I followed him suit and pulled on my cut-offs.

"Well done for the first time."

"Shit! Why am I naked? Where are my clothes?"

"You ripped them when you phased. I've got spare shorts in my car. Wait a minute, I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Well, that went better than expected so far. But I was sure his rebellious side would show as soon as he had adjusted to his new life. I went to my car. Autumn leaned against the hood with Olivia and Cory standing next to her.

"Hey, Autumn. Sorry I keep you waiting. I need another minute, okay?"

I opened the trunk and took the shorts. Before I went back to Dave, I asked Autumn:

"Did Dave bother you again today?"

She avoided my gaze.

"Autumn?" I asked.

"Yes, he did", Olivia confirmed, "I told him off, but I couldn't wipe that mean smirk off his face."

I growled quietly and ran back to Dave. I threw the shorts to him and waited, balling my fists.

"Something happened? You seem upset", Dave stated while he dressed.

"Yes, actually something did happen. You've got a lot to take in today and that's the only reason I don't punch you right now. I don't want you to phase already again. Do you remember what I told you about me being the deputy Alpha and all the other wolves having to obey?"

"Yes", he said cautiously.

"Well then. The following is an order. Never ever bully Autumn again nor hurt her in any other imaginable way. Leave her alone. Understood?"

He frowned.

"Why do you make that your business? Are you related to her?"

"Un-der-stood?" I asked again, emphasizing every syllable.

"Okay, okay! Easy, man!"

"I'll take you to a friend now who will fill you in on all the details about being a shape-shifter. He used to be a shifter as well. Autumn will come with us because she is moving in with him and his family. They are her new foster parents. You will be nice to her."

I started walking back to the car park.

"Foster parents? What about her real parents?"

"Are you really that ignorant, Dave? Her mother is dead and her father is a creep and in jail."

"How should I have known that? She doesn't speak!"

"Well, now you know. Does knowing her life is a mess make it easier to be nice to her?"

"A bit."

"Good. Then you'll lighten her life up by apologizing."

"Oh, no! Come on!"

"Oh, yes! What did I tell you again? It was something about pack hierarchy and your and my place in it."

Dave groaned.

"How can I become the Alpha?"

"You'll never be Alpha. You're one of the smallest wolfs of the pack which means you'll be low-ranked. Get used to it, pup."

Autumn frowned when she saw who came after me.

"Remember my orders. Be nice. Apologize", I murmured.

Cory, who could hear me because the improved wolf hearing didn't fade after he started to age again, grinned. Olivia crossed her arms and glared at Dave. Instead of getting into my car right away I stopped next to Autumn, turned to Dave and waited with a meaningful look. I have to admit that I enjoyed this. He felt uncomfortable and wasn't able to look Autumn in the eyes. He glanced over to his friends who watched the scene in disbelief.

"Don't worry about your friends. You have to dump them anyway", I said.

He looked up at me and frowned again.

"Why? You can't stipulate who I'm friends with!" he complained.

"They cannot know what you are. Stick to Cory and Quil instead. Now, I think you had something you wanted to tell this lady."

He pouted. Olivia interrupted us.

"No, no, wait! He can't be friends with Cory after what he did to Autumn!"

"He can", Cory corrected, "He's one of us now."

"I'm waiting, Dave."

"Okay, okay", he said looking to the ground again, "I'm sorry Autumn."

"Again. Try harder."

He groaned.

"Alright. Look, Autumn, I didn't know you were going through a tough time and I'm sorry – I'm really sorry – that I made your life even more miserable. I promise I won't tease you anymore, neither with your choice to stop speaking nor with your name nor with anything else. Please forgive me."

He looked very cautiously up at her. Autumn nodded, but there wasn't the slightest hint of a smile on her face and therefore I knew she wouldn't forgive him that easily. I smiled nonetheless.

"Fine. Since that's been settled now we can go. Oh, um, Autumn, I'm sorry, but we have to take that jerk with us. Sam has to talk to him."

She was clearly not happy about that. I opened the front passenger door for her.

"Do you have a lot of homework today?"

She shook her head.

"Would you like to hang out with me after setting your new room up?"

She smiled and nodded. I drove to Sam's and Emily's where I ordered Dave to help me with Autumn's luggage, which he did reluctantly. Emily led us to the guest room.

"So, Autumn, this will be your very own domain from now on. You can change the setting of the furniture if you like and we can paint it in your favorite color. If you need a larger wardrobe or something else, like a vanity or another bookshelf, just say something and we'll get it for you."

Dave chuckled to himself. I slapped the back of his head.

"Sorry", he mumbled. Emily glowered at him.

"Who's the new pup?" she asked me without taking her eyes off him.

"Could you all stop calling me a pup? That's degrading!" Dave complained, before I could answer.

"Sorry, but that's what you are", I said before turning back to Emily, "That's Dave, Zack's brother. Where's Sam? I thought he would be home."

"He's at the grocery store. Should be back soon."

"Okay", I said while I shoved Dave out of Autumn's room and down to the kitchen.

"Sit down", I ordered and sat down opposite as well.

"Sam is a tribal elder. He would be Chief if we still had one. He used to be our Alpha and his son might become the next one. So I advise you to be nice to them."

"Why used to be? You already said earlier that he used to be a shape-shifter. Why isn't he anymore? Is there a way I can get out of this?"

"When a shape-shifter phases for the first time he stops aging. Like I already said you have to learn to control the phasing. If you can manage to stop phasing at all, you will age again. That's what Sam did. But, considering your Lahote temper, I'd say you'll need at least five years to be able to do that. Your cousin, Paul, needed five and a half."

"And Zack? Why is he still a member of the pack? Can't he control the phasing yet?"

"I think he could, but despite his hatred for my predominance he still likes to be a wolf. He likes the idea of eternal youth. He likes to kill leeches. He likes", Dave cut me off.

"Leeches?"

"That's a nickname for the vampires. Bloodsucker is also very common."

"Why are you still a wolf? You don't seem like a hothead who can't control himself. Do you enjoy killing as well?"

"No, not at all. But I see it as my duty to protect my people. And I wanted to wait for my soul mate to age together with her."

"Soul mate? Gosh, I should have known that you're a softy who believes in true love."

"I know for sure that true love exists, at least for shape-shifters. It's called imprinting. When you look your soul mate in the eye the first time after your first phasing, you imprint on her. She's your perfect match and your whole world will center on her. You'll do everything to make her happy and seeing her hurt causes you pain. It's not exactly like love at first sight, but similar. But love doesn't always have to be involved. Calling it love would sometimes even sound awkward, because you don't have to imprint on a girl your age. You could also imprint on a toddler. You'll be what your imprint needs you to be, may that be a brother, a lover, whatever. Sam imprinted on Emily, Cory on Olivia, Quil on Claire, Paul on Rachel and I imprinted on Autumn. Some of the others have imprinted as well and most of them stopped phasing in order to grow old with their imprints."

"Ugh! Is there a way to avoid that? I wouldn't want to be addicted to one single girl my whole life!"

"No, there isn't. You have no impact on it. You can neither choose the time nor the person." I chuckled. "You could imprint on a pug-ugly girl and would love her anyway."

"Crap", Dave mumbled.

"You've chosen quite a bad time for phasing. We currently have some trouble with a large vampire coven. We killed six of them and it's only a question of time when they'll come to avenge them. So maybe you won't live long enough to get the chance to imprint."

"Since when do you like to scare puppies, Embry?" Sam asked. He just entered the kitchen with some big grocery bags and had heard my last sentences. Dave growled at Sam for calling him a puppy. Sam glared at him with his former Alpha authority and Dave quickly lowered his gaze and ducked his head. I chuckled. Despite his rebellious personality, nature had assigned him to be submissive and his body reacted instinctively to the authority.

"I'm not scaring him for my own entertainment. I'm just telling him the truth. Can you fill him in on all the details about our world? I want to spend the afternoon with Autumn."

"Sure. Have fun."

I hurried upstairs, eager to let Autumn's presence distract myself from my worries and Dave.

* * *

_Since you've read this far, there must be something about this story that you like. Is it really that hard to leave me a review and tell me what you think? I don't expect you to review every chapter (although that would be awesome). Just once at least._


	11. Chapter 11

_When I opened my mailbox this morning, I was like this: *wide eyes, open mouth* ... ... ... *still speechless* ... my reviews doubled over night! For a moment I thought my begging had finally been consistent enough to encourage people to review. But it was just one more person than usual. Thank you so much for all your reviews I Am Switzerland101! I'm glad you like this. As for the female wolves: I've been thinking about that already. If I ever get as far as to write a story about the next generation, June might prove to be her mother's daughter.  
_

_KittyPimms, you're back :) Of course you have a life outside of Fanfiction and can't review every day without exception. That's okay as long as you come back ;)  
_

* * *

**Fight or treaty**

"Ah, there comes our savior!" Emily exclaimed when I entered the room, "Autumn just decided that she wanted the window wall to be painted dark purple and luckily I have dark purple paint left from our last renovation of Emma's room. So we decided to do the painting this afternoon. While I go fetch the paint, a few brushes and other stuff, can you please move the furniture away from the wall, Embry?"

"At your service, Myladies!" I replied. Autumn smiled benignly. I pulled the desk and the bed away from the wall without much effort. Emily returned and we covered the carpet in front of the wall with old newspapers and taped the window frame so that we wouldn't paint it as well. During the painting Emily and I joked a lot and all three of us were laughing most of the time. It was a miracle that we didn't speckle the whole room with paint in the process. In the end I shoved the bed and the desk back to the wall, leaving only an inch of space in between so that the furniture didn't get in touch with the fresh paint. Emily put all the paint stuff away and Autumn took her small stereo out of one of the boxes and put a CD in. I recognized it immediately.

"That's your favorite, isn't it? Show me the jewel case, I want to know how it's called."

She handed me the case. _Seven Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven_ said the cover. I turned it and Autumn motioned to the second piece on the list.

"Moonlight Sonata?"

She nodded.

"What do we do now? Unpack?"

Instead of answering she handed me a box of books and pointed to the bookshelf.

"Okay, that's a Yes, I guess."

Autumn didn't own much. All the boxes and her suitcase were empty in less than an hour. She grabbed a sketch book and started drawing. She looked up at me every now and then and I sat still. Finally she came to me and turned the sketch book so that I could see the result. She had placed me on a summer meadow.

"That's awesome. Can I keep it?"

She shook her head, took the sketch book from me and put it into a drawer. I pouted and she grinned. She came back to sit next to me on her bed. I stayed silent for a while and simply enjoyed her proximity. It wasn't an awkward silence, at least for me. I hoped neither for her. It distressed me that she wouldn't break the silence, even if she found it awkward.

"Autumn", I started unconfidently, "why don't you speak to me anymore? You already did it once. Why have you stopped? Did I do something wrong?"

She took my hand and shook her head insistently. Her eyes apologized. But there was also hidden fear in them. What did she fear? Her father was in jail, after all. I captured her hand in mine and looked into her gorgeous eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

"And you know that I will always protect you, right? I will never let anybody harm you."

She nodded again. I released her hand and leaned back against the wall.

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure you knew", I said nonchalantly.

"Autumn! Embry!" Emily called. "Dinner time!"

To my disappointment Autumn rode with Sam, Emily, Adrian and Emma, while Dave rode with me. At the Den I introduced Dave to the others. Autumn sat down next to me which overjoyed me. The atmosphere in the room was tense. Usually we were a hilarious and noisy group and had several conversations running at once. Today it was rather quiet.

"Embry, is it true that Paul's missing?" Kim asked anxiously.

"Yes. He didn't show up at work and his car has been found gutted. Rosalie will look for him."

"Rosalie? She won't try hard enough. Can't you send one of the guys?" Jared asked.

I sighed.

"Jake said he wants all of us in La Push at the moment. And I agree with him. Rosalie will do what she can."

"But they aren't here yet! Maybe Paul doesn't have so much time left!"

"Hey, Jared, I'm as worried as you are, okay? We need everyone here. One missing person could tip the scales of victory or death. This is about the tribe's safety. Paul would understand."

I quickly glanced at Autumn. She was confused by my words.

"So when will Jake arrive?" Seth asked to change the subject.

"Tomorrow morning. And for those who haven't heard yet: Brady's on his way, too. He will arrive in the next hour or so."

My words caused loud jubilation. As if the help of a single wolf would change everything, everyone suddenly seemed optimistic and hopeful. I smiled lightly and shouted over the noise:

"Okay, okay, express your joy now, but when he's here you should contain yourselves. He doesn't want us to make it a big thing. No cheering, no grinning, no nudging, that were his exact words. Alright?"

Slowly they calmed down again, but the smiles stayed on most of the faces. Autumn was twiddling with her zipper. Her eyes were constantly moving. She looked at me, but quickly looked away when she saw that I watched her. It looked like she fought an inner struggle.

"Are you okay?"

Instead of answering she buried her head in her hands. I placed an arm around her shoulders, leaned towards her and whispered in her ear.

"It's alright. Don't be afraid. I know you don't understand what we're talking about. But you do know that we call ourselves protectors, right? That's what we do. We protect the tribe. It's difficult this time, but we'll succeed. I won't let anybody harm you, remember?"

She stayed anxious the whole evening. When everyone had had enough – not that a wolf could ever really have had enough – Leah entered.

"Hey, Sam, there's a woman at the bar who wants to ask some questions about the tribe, especially the legends about the wolves", she said in normal volume before she lowered her voice to a level only supernatural creatures could hear.

"She's human, but the scent of leeches is all over her."

Through the open door of our private room we could see a middle-aged woman with maroon curly hair and glasses who sat at the bar and looked frankly towards us.

"I've seen her earlier", Claire said, "She's been prowling around the res all afternoon."

"Why would a human spy on us for the leeches?" Collin asked in the same low voice that Leah had used.

"Why would a human even smell like leeches? Only vegetarians would leave her alive", Chad whispered.

Nobody had an answer to these questions. Sam got up and went to her, a kind but fake smile on his lips. He left the door ajar and we all kept completely silent to listen to their conversation.

"Good evening. I'm Sam."

"Nicole. Nice to meet you."

"So, you wanted to ask some questions?"

"Yes, I'm really interested in Indian legends. I've heard the Quileute believe that they're descended from wolves?"

"Yes, that's true. Well, at least one of our legends says so. Of course we don't really believe it."

"Really?" she sounded disappointed.

"Really. It's just a legend."

"And the Cold Ones? What about them?"

"You know that legend as well? Seems like there's nothing left I could tell you."

"So you don't think that there's a grain of truth in these legends? None at all?"

"Oh, yes, there is. I think the Cold Ones are a metaphor for the palefaces who invaded our country. They were – obviously – pale, they killed a lot of us and they had cold hearts. Therefore Cold Ones."

Sam really made it sound like he believed what he said.

"What a pity", the woman replied, "Cause I do believe in the supernatural. I mean", she lowered her voice esoterically, "I know that there are supernatural creatures out there. But of course they try to hide."

She sighed and continued, "What I would give to meet one. Everyone's telling me that I'm insane and I'm starting to think that myself. Meeting one would prove me correct. And that creature wouldn't have to fear anything, because nobody would believe me and they'd keep telling me that I'm insane. But at least I would know for myself that I'm not."

She sounded desperate.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you", Sam said.

She sighed again, more dramatically this time.

"It was nice to meet you, Nicole. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Sam returned and closed the door behind him.

"Definitely spy", he breathed. Two minutes later Leah came in again.

"She left. She was suddenly in a hurry", she announced and returned to the guest room.

"Should we stop her? Who knows what she found out today by simply watching or questioning random people", Collin said in a hushed tone.

"We can't. She's human", Seth argued.

"I haven't said that we should kill her. Just keep her", Collin replied.

"She could accuse us of deprivation of liberty", Chad pointed out.

Collin gave up after that. Soon everyone started getting up. I said goodbye to Autumn and went on patrol. I had assigned patrol to Dave as well. Seth, Dave and I met Brady at the river. It was a bit of a shock to see him. He was slender. His ashy-brown fur was shaggy, matted and dirty. I had been wrong. He wasn't just on the verge of letting the animal inside of him prevail. An animal would groom its fur. He was totally letting himself go.

I sent Seth and Dave to the southern border whereas Brady and I would patrol the northern, from where the vampires were to be expected. None had shown up all day. Another visit seemed to be overdue. But the border was devoid of fresh tracks. The imprint bond pulled me to Sam and Emily's house to check on Autumn. I could hear her crying and already wanted to phase back to solace her when I heard Emily's voice.

"Shh. Don't be scared, honey. You're totally safe here. Oh, you're scared for Embry? Don't worry, he knows what he's doing. I've been told he's a very good protector, the best even. Try to sleep. Everything's going to be fine."

'Embry', Brady whined, 'This is already hard enough for me.'

I turned back to the woods.

'Sorry.'

A strong north wind rustled through the trees. At midnight, it suddenly carried the intense disgusting scent of vampires. Not just one or two, but a large group was approaching La Push. I raised my muzzle for a long demanding howl. Seth and Dave immediately sprinted towards our position. Within seconds the first other pack members phased. Not one minute had passed before everyone was on his way. I was surprised by my own calmness. We were eleven wolfs now, but the outcome of this was still unsure. How many would they be? I asked myself and then decided that it didn't really matter. We would do everything in our power to defeat them and for that purpose we had to stay calm. Panic could never win a battle. Composure and a strong will could.

The strong wind had turned into a storm. Of course it was retarded by the trees, but it still soughed through the leaves. We could hear the increased wave breaking at the coast. Since the clouds covered the moon and the stars, the night was pitch-black. I thought the atmosphere adjusted to an upcoming battle scene only in movies.

The vampires reached us before our pack mates did. Brady and I both backed away, not leaving them out of our sight and with a constant growl escaping our throats. Just like the last times the leeches stayed in the trees. They kept pace with us and didn't try to pass us. There were eleven, seven men and four women. Thus our numbers were even. But not every one of us could take down a vampire all alone. Dave would be the first to die tonight, that was as sure as eggs is eggs. I hid that thought of course. He was already frightened enough.

Our pack mates joined our sides without a sound. We stopped backing away and the vampires stopped as well. I recognized the blond Andrew and the four vampires who had spied on us. A man with a mustache and brown, about two-inch-long hair that was combed to the side rose to speak.

"Peace, dear wolves. We don't seek vengeance. Oscar was a fool to threaten you. He underestimated your power. We won't do that mistake again. I see there are eleven of you. Didn't you say there were nine, Andrew?"

Andrew shrugged.

"Last time there were nine."

"Never mind. Doesn't change that we are superior this time."

Chad snorted.

'Why do they hide in the trees when they're so superior?'

"We know that a few of you are able to kill a vampire single-handedly, but most of you aren't. Besides I should warn you that some of us are talented with gifts that come in handy in battle. Truth be told, one of us has a talent that can knock you all out at once. You see that you don't stand a chance against us, right? But a battle is not what we want! We have settled in Port Angeles and Seattle and we like it there. Since you are so eager to kill our kind we cannot ignore your neighborhood. We have considered hunting you down, but that would be such a waste! We would prefer to make a treaty with you. We would promise not to attack nor kill you nor expose you to the humans. We would only enter your territory for the purpose of necessary talks. We could even make your territory a kind of protected area that no vampire is allowed to enter without permission."

'I wonder how they want to do that.' Aaron thought.

"Even if we don't declare the reservation protected, we wouldn't blame you if you killed the vampires who enter it without your permission. Your duties on the other hand would be to equally promise not to attack nor kill nor expose us. And we want three of you to work for us. We want to set boundaries to the power of the Volturi. We want to rule the American vampires, while the Volturi can look over the Eurasian and African. The three of you who would work for us would get to kill every vampire that we sentence to death. That's what you like to do, after all, isn't it? Killing vampires? The last point would be that we expect you to ally with us against the Volturi if they try to preclude us from gaining power. Now it's your decision. But you only have these two choices. Fight against us or ally with us. A simple truce is out of the question."

'That's blackmailing', Chad complained.

'They can't seriously think that they can take over the power in America. The Volturi would never allow that', Seth thought.

'Embry. What shall we do?' Aaron asked.

'On the one hand, we are a proud species with a free will and the idea of working as guard dogs for vampires has already displeased us when Aro considered it. But on the other hand we have to protect our tribe. If we fight and, most certainly, lose, the vampires might kill our families as well. If we accept the treaty our tribe will be safe. But we would support our natural enemies. They claim that they don't kill humans to get blood, but we don't even know if that's true. If they ever killed a human we would have to look the other way and pretend that they didn't, which would make us accessories and would be even worse since it is our primary task to protect the humans, not only our tribe. I can't make this decision on my own. Let's vote. Fight or treaty?'

'Treaty', Zack thought immediately. For a split second he lost control of his thoughts and we all knew that he wanted the treaty to save his brother from certain death.

'Fight', Aaron and Seth thought in unison, quickly followed by Collin and Brady.

'Treaty', Simon thought in an attempt to push the vote into the other direction. But the highest ranked wolves had already voted and I knew that the pack's decision was already made.

'Fight', Leah, Chad and Sky concurred.

'Treaty?' Dave asked unsure.

'Fight, I would say', I started, 'but maybe we don't need a majority here. Zack, Simon and Dave, you would accept the treaty. Would you volunteer to serve these squirrel leeches as guard dogs?'

'Um, yes?' Dave offered, not completely convinced himself.

'No', Simon admitted.

Zack's gaze rested on his brother for several seconds. He knew what I had intended with this question. He fought an inner struggle whether he should trade his own pride and maxim for the life of his brother.

'He doesn't have to die, Zack', I soothed, 'I will try to string them along. I will ask for time to think it over. Our reinforcement will arrive in about eight hours.'

'What about the talented leech that can knock us all out?' he asked.

'They'll think twice if they see that the Cullens are on our side. They can't risk having both the Volturi and the Cullens against them.'

'Alright. Fight it is then.'

The vampires got impatient. A woman with short black hair asked:

"What takes the Alpha so long to decide? Do you think he's communicating with the others?"

"Quite possible. The legends say they have a mind connection."

I went behind a tree to phase back and took a deep breath to gain courage. I didn't really trust these bloodsuckers.

'Be careful', Seth pleaded.

'Sure', I said before I phased back and pulled my cutoffs on. I stepped forward, but remained behind the safe line of my pack mates.

"Embry, isn't it?" the vampire leader smiled widely at me. He must think that we were going to accept the treaty because otherwise we could have growled to start the fight. He jumped down and landed in front of Seth and we both couldn't help but flinch back.

"And your name is?" I asked. Not that it was necessary. It was always strange to call a vampire by its name as if it was an animate being and not an undead monster. The Cullens were the only exception.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Henry."

He offered me his hand to shake, but I ignored it.

"We need time to think this over. We have to discuss it with our elders. Can you give us a week?" I asked hoping that the other Cullens could arrive in time as well.

"You'll get a day", the leech replied, jumping back into the trees and shooting a glance to the short-haired female. A sudden fear took hold of my heart and turned it into pure ice. It was worse than the fear I had felt when we were certain that the Volturi would kill us all. But this time there was hope, right? He had agreed to give us a day. One day was enough for Jake to arrive. Then why was I so scared?

"We'll be back next night at midnight", Henry announced, "That's your deadline. I hope it's just a metaphorical deadline and not your literal deadline."

He led his vampires back north. I breathed out in relieve. Somehow my fear went with them. Weird. I phased back and immediately my brothers overwhelmed me.

'Embry!'

'Embry, did you feel that as well?'

'That sudden fear?'

'We all did.'

'Out of the blue.'

'It was odd.'

'Yeah, I felt that as well', I admitted, 'Good to know it wasn't just me.'

'I bet one of the leeches has a talent to scare people to death', Aaron guessed.

'Great', Collin exclaimed, 'One leech that scares us to death, one that knocks us all out and one that confuses our minds and erases our memories. And that are only the talents we know about. We're fucked up.'

'Then let's hope that the squirrels don't want to take on the Cullens. Bella's shield is famous', Aaron mused.

'Yeah. It's not over till the fat lady sings', I agreed, 'Well then, I think we can trust them not to come back before the deadline. I'll reduce the patrol to two wolfs. Everyone should be rested for the fight. Zack and Simon, patrol for you first. Dave, no school for you tomorrow. We'll teach you some fighting skills instead.'

'Okay.'

Dave had to be really scared. He didn't spend a second thinking how great it was that he was allowed to ditch school or how cool fight training had to be. I couldn't blame him. We were all scared.

* * *

_Please review!_

_We're half way through by the way. And I'm already longing to get the sequel up (which I hope to finish over Christmas break).  
_


	12. Chapter 12

_A big thanks to my reviewers, KittyPimms, I am Switzerland101 and Loula Lahote. You're awesome!**  
**_

* * *

**Captured**

Dave was grappling with Emmett who had volunteered to be his training partner. Jake, Zack, Nessie and I watched them, gave hints and instructions. Emmett's phone rang and he threw it over to Nessie without letting Dave get the upper hand. Renesmee caught it and answered the call.

"Hello Rosalie!"

Jake and I immediately turned our attention to her. Emmett pinned Dave to the ground effortlessly and listened as well.

"Nessie, I've got news about Paul. Bad news. I mean, he's not dead. Yet. But I'll better start at the beginning. All around his car were tracks of vampires."

Everyone gasped. Only a vampire who had already met us could notice what Paul was. He couldn't be a random victim.

"But there was no wolf scent at all. The flames must have erased it. I concluded that the vampires had dropped Paul somewhere else and then went to dispose of the car. I followed their tracks. They led through half the city and ended at the closed gate of a huge mansion. And there I finally caught Paul's scent as well. I put these red contacts in which Emmett bought for the fun of it last Halloween and rang the bell. And they let me in. There were only three, a woman and two men. We chatted and they told me that they're actually eleven and will soon be twelve, because there's a human woman who they want to turn. They think she'll be gifted. After the casual chat, when I had the feeling that they started to trust me, I asked them about the strange dog scent. And then the woman led me to Paul."

Jake, Nessie and I held our breaths.

"They were so proud that they had captured a werewolf. They kept him in the basement, chained and behind thick bars made of steel. They had questioned him and wanted to force him into serve them as some kind of guard dog. He hadn't answered a single question and of course didn't phase either. They… they've tortured him. He looked awful! After I had seen him I stayed some more time and they told me some incredible stuff that we can talk about later. Eventually I could manage to sneak off to the basement and talk to Paul in private. He says he doesn't want to be rescued."

"No!" Jacob gasped.

"Yes, Jake. Honestly. He doesn't want to be rescued, because he doesn't want his brothers to risk their life for a life that isn't worth a cent anymore."

"What? His life is as valuable as any other life! Of course we'll rescue him!" Jake exclaimed.

"Seriously, Jake. He has a reason to say that. He hasn't even told Rachel yet, but he's going to die."

"Yes, if we don't rescue him, he certainly will!"

"No. Could you just listen for a minute, Jacob Black? He is going to die anyway. He's been diagnosed with a brain tumor past remedy. He's got a few weeks."

That knocked Jacob for a loop. Now I was the one to gainsay.

"No, no, no! That cannot be true! He's never been sick since he first phased! He's a shape-shifter, after all! We don't get sick!"

"I'm sorry, Embry. I can only repeat what he told me. The doctor made an MRI. It's definite. And it cannot be cured. I'd rather have had good news for you, but I can't change the lowdown."

"What's the name of the leader of that coven? Henry?"

"Yes. How do you know?"

"Seems like it's the same coven that causes us trouble at the moment."

"But then it will be easy to rescue Paul!" Nessie said. "They will all be here tonight, right? So nobody will watch over Paul. The mansion will be abandoned!"

"Okay", Rosalie said, "I guess that's my job then."

"Thank you, Rosalie", Jacob said sadly.

"You're welcome. You know my heart doesn't pump blood anymore, but I still have it."

"Yes. I knew that."

* * *

Unfortunately it didn't go the way we planned it. A quarter to midnight, when we were all already phased and waited for our fate to come, Rosalie called and said that there were still five vampires in the mansion. If they had wanted to come to get our decision, they were extremely late. Even a leech couldn't run all the way from Seattle in fifteen minutes. It was clear that Rosalie had to cancel the rescue mission. The questions were now: Wouldn't the vampires come to La Push at all? Would only a few come? Were they really that sure of themselves? We got the answers fifteen minutes later.

Four bloodsuckers arrived at the place of our last encounter with them. Among them was the woman with the short black hair. There was another woman with long, flat silvery hair and two men, one brown-haired and the other dark blond. Of course they lingered in the trees again. Emmett and Renesmee sprung up into the trees as well to be on the same level.

"Well, look what we've got here!" the silvery-haired said. "You've gathered some friends. One more wolf", she mustered Jacob for a split second, "and you must be a Cullen", she said to Emmett, "and unless I am very much mistaken you must be the famous Nessie", she finished looking at Renesmee.

"Yes", Emmett replied, "I'm Emmett Cullen, Nessie's uncle. We wanted to meet the vampires who are brave enough to challenge the Volturi."

The woman smiled.

"Well then, nice to meet you. I'm Blanche and these are Cora, Algernon and Eustace. Are you sure you didn't come to fight along with the wolves? Or are you going to tell me that they accept the treaty? I don't think so."

"No, I don't think so either. And yes, we came to fight. But we're a bit confused. You're only four. I don't believe you're so talented that four could possibly defeat fourteen."

"But I am. Can the fact that we keep a friend of yours hostage change your decision? Of course we would release him if the treaty was signed."

"We already knew that you had him. May I give you advice? Whatever you do, you can't force him to phase and he wouldn't be that good of a guard dog either. He stopped phasing ten years ago. He isn't a werewolf anymore, he couldn't phase even if he wanted to."

"Fine. Then we'll make one last experiment with him. We wondered what vampire venom would do to a werewolf. We'll see soon. Unless the wolves sign the treaty."

"Although he doesn't belong to the pack anymore, he's still a protector of his tribe. And therefore he will die willingly and wouldn't want his brothers to sign your stupid treaty just to save him. So, are we going to fight or what?"

She simply smiled. I suddenly felt dizzy and not a second later my legs gave away. Before I bumped onto the ground everything went black. The last thing I heard was a scream that sounded a lot like Nessie.

I don't know how long I had stayed unconscious. Someone nudged me constantly and then someone said in my head:

'Wake up! Embry! Come on!'

I groaned.

'Okay, I'm awake, Aaron. No need to hit me anymore. Gosh, if I weren't a shape-shifter I would get a bruise there.'

'Sorry. Emmett, Nessie and Jake are still knocked out and we're not able to wake them. But we've got to do something! Seth and Dave are gone!'

I slowly got to my feet and looked around. We were still in the woods, at the same place where we had met the squirrel leeches. Emmett and Renesmee both lied on the ground. Jacob was the only wolf that was still unconscious. Chad, Leah and Zack struggled to wake them up. Seth and Dave were indeed nowhere to be found

'What happened?' I asked confused.

'We're not sure. We think the gift which they said had the power to knock us all out was, well, a gift that makes people unconscious. Since Seth's and Dave's scent went with them, we think they kidnapped them.'

'But why can't we hear them then? They wouldn't have phased back.'

'They must be unconscious as well.'

Finally Emmett moved and groaned.

"Ouch. It's been 85 years since I last fell out of a tree. That was a mean trick!"

Jacob woke up as well. He immediately went over to Nessie, phased back and shook her lightly.

"Come on, Nessie, wake up! Please! Please, don't have broken your neck. Wake up!"

"Give her some blood of yours", Emmett suggested. Everyone turned to glare at him.

"What? She'll heal faster!"

Luckily Nessie moaned right then and her eyes fluttered open. Emmett looked at his watch. A Rolex, of course.

"It's one o'clock. These bastards are already miles away."

"What happened?" Nessie asked confused.

"They somehow made all of us unconscious", Jake explained, "and they kidnapped Seth and Dave."

"Oh my God."

"One thing is for sure: We need your Mom here", Emmett declared.

"Yes. Call her, Nessie. Now. Embry, are Seth and Dave still out cold?" Jacob asked. I was so glad that he was here and that he took the lead. I nodded in response. Renesmee pulled her cell phone out.

"Hi Mom. You have to take the next flight to Seattle."

"What happened?" Bella asked and Renesmee told her the story while we all slowly headed back to La Push. Leah and Zack were both worried sick, of course. I tried to encourage them.

'Obviously they really want their guard dogs badly. That means Seth and Dave will live. They could cave in and play guard dogs until the rest of the Cullens are here. And then we'll free them. No matter what.'

Leah sobbed.

'Seth won't cave in. Never. They'll torture him like Paul.'

'Jake can order him to cave in.'

"Hey, Nessie", Jacob said at that moment, "Tell your Mom about the coven's intentions as well. Perhaps some Volturi guards want to come along."

I looked at him in disbelief. He wanted to ask the Volturi for help? He wanted to allow them to be here? We had to protect La Push and he called for more bloodsuckers?

'Oh my God. What happened? Where am I?' Seth's thoughts distracted me from my own.

'Seth!' I exclaimed relieved.

'Thank God, you are alive!' Leah breathed.

'Yes, but where am I? Sounds like a car. But I can't see anything and – Ow! I think I'm in a cage. A small cage, I can't even stand in here. And – what's that? There's a cold steel chain around my neck and I'm muzzled! Oh my God!'

He yelled the last words in shock.

'They've captured me! They kidnap me! Are you all in cages as well or is it just me?'

'We think they took Dave as well, but he seems to be still unconscious. The rest of us is still here and is alright. Though Nessie might get some bruises. She and Emmett fell out of the trees when the leeches knocked us out.'

In Seth's mind I could hear the voice of a woman.

'I think one of our doggies woke up.'

'If he makes too much noise you may castigate him', the voice of the silvery haired woman replied.

'Castigate? How?' Seth asked terrified.

'Stay calm and quiet. Don't give her a reason to castigate you – whatever that means.'

I nudged Jacob.

"Are they awake?"

I nodded although actually only one of them was. Jake phased.

'Seth! Dave! How are you?'

'Dave's still out cold', I explained.

'I'm fine', Seth thought, but it didn't sound very convincing. 'I'm caged, chained, muzzled and threatened with some mysterious castigation if I'm not behaving, but other than that I'm totally fine.'

'Phase back, get rid of that degrading chain and the muzzle and phase again' Jacob advised.

'Okay. I'm back in a minute.'

He phased back and we waited anxiously for his return.

'Ow! Damn cage!' Seth whined when he phased again.

'Quiet, doggie! Cora is eager to try her gift on you and, trust me, you don't want her to', the silvery haired woman said. Her name was Blanche, wasn't it? Seth lied down.

'Much better now without the dog restraining devices. But I fear they'll just knock me out again when they see it and put them back in place', Seth mused.

'Okay, Seth, whatever they try to force you into, just do it. Don't let yourself be tortured. Unless, of course, they want you to fight Dave or Paul.'

'I won't tell them any secrets about us! And I definitely don't want to play the guard dog for them!' Seth clarified.

'You will play the guard dog if the alternative is being tortured!' Jacob ordered, without Alpha force though. 'You'll consider the value of the secrets and decide whether they're really worth being tortured for or not. We'll gather help and get you out of there. Bella and the other Cullens will take the next available flight to Seattle. And Carlisle wants to ask the Denalis for their support. We sure as hell will get you out of there, both you and Dave.'

'Get us out of where?' Dave asked dizzily. Nobody had noticed his awakening.

'Out of the vampires' clutches', Seth replied.

Dave got up quickly and hit the top of his cage like Seth had. He whined.

'The vampires' clutches?' he repeated panic-stricken and whimpered miserably.

'Second doggy awake. Quiet in the back seats, please. We don't want to have to punish you', Blanche purred.

Dave let out another scared whine. Then there was pain. Unbearable burning pain, clearly having its source in Dave's mind, raiding everyone else's mind like it was our very own pain. It felt like my body was on fire. Then, as sudden as it had begun, it stopped. I got up, realizing that I had stirred up the soil in a seven feet circle around me.

'Ouch, I must have hundreds of bruises', Seth said, 'Bloody cage.'

Dave whined again.

'Shut up, Dave!' everyone shouted at once.

'Cora! You've castigated the other wolf as well, even though he had been such a good boy!' Blanche complained.

'I didn't mean to. Must be the mind connection', Cora apologized half-heartedly.

'You have no idea how to train animals, right? How shall he learn that obeying is the correct thing to do if he gets punished anyway?' Blanche challenged.

Seth suppressed a growl.

'That's humiliating!' he complained, 'I'm not a simple-minded animal!'

'He's more than an animal', Cora hissed, 'He's got to learn to fear us or we can never be sure if he won't turn on us one day.'

'We'll discuss that with Henry', Blanche decided.

'Yeah, he'll be on your side for sure. We'll ask Jack as well', Cora replied.

'Alright.'

'What are they going to do to us?' Dave asked anxiously.

'They'll force us into serving them as guard dogs. And they'll castigate us if we don't obey', Seth said.

'Do what they want you to do, Dave', Jacob ordered.

* * *

_I'm cruel, I know. And it won't get any better any time soon. Just worse.  
_

_Reviews make me really happy ;)  
_


	13. Chapter 13

_Thanks for reviewing, KittyPimms! Castration, hmm, I never thought of that, but that would have been even more cruel indeed. However, a castrated wolf can't breed anymore and maybe that's what the vampires have in mind for the future - to breed their own loyal pack of guard dogs. Who knows?**  
**_

* * *

**Living hell**

Two hours later the car came to a halt. Doors opened and shut and then a blanket was pulled off the two cages. Blanche raised her eyebrows at Seth.

'Oh. Seems like you weren't as good a boy as I thought', she stated.

'May I punish him?' Cora pleaded.

Seth, Dave and I tensed. The others had phased back.

'Embry, phase back!' Seth ordered.

'No. I want to know what's happening', I answered back.

'No, Cora. I'll just knock him out', Blanche decided.

'Embry, phase back before she knocks you out as well!'

This time I accepted Seth's advice. But I only waited a minute before I phased again. From the silence in my head I could tell that Seth and Dave were out cold. I waited patiently until they both woke up simultaneously.

'Welcome to your new home. Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be right back', Blanche said sweetly. Dave and Seth found themselves in a windowless room with a concrete floor and steel bars that reached from the ground to the ceiling and blocked the way to the door. A fluorescent tube which flickered every now and then filled the room with cool light. Seth was chained and muzzled again and the chain was attached to a ring in the wall. There was no furniture in the room, not even blankets.

'Seth!' a weak voice exclaimed. Seth spun around. Paul lied in a corner, equally chained to a ring in the wall. His clothes were tattered and there was dried blood all over his body. Seth went to him and nudged him whining. Paul managed a weak grin.

'Don't cry, pup. At least now I won't die alone.'

He had never stopped calling Seth a pup, even after Seth's wolf had grown and become stronger than Paul's.

'Who's the new puppy?' Paul asked. Dave slowly approached him. 'You must have phased only recently, because otherwise I'd know about you. Poor kid, you're probably still trying to adjust to being a wolf and now you even get captured by sadistic bloodsuckers. I won't spare you and put lipstick on the pig. If there is a living hell somewhere on this planet, then it's right here in this room. I hope you haven't been captured in an attempt to free me. I told Rosalie you shouldn't risk your lives for someone who's sentenced to death anyway.'

There were footsteps on some stairs and Blanche entered the room together with Cora, Henry and another man. Dave backed away into the other corner and ducked his head in fear while Seth stayed in front of Paul in a protective, self-confident posture.

'Seth, don't provoke them!' I ordered.

'Oh, I love you, Sandy', Blanche exclaimed, 'Proud and self-confident you are, yet still aware of the pain you'll have to suffer if you don't obey. It's a shame that we'll have to break you into submission.'

'Ugh, Sandy? Now she already calls me by a nickname like a pet!' Seth hissed.

'May I?' Cora pleaded.

'Seth! Behave submissively!' I tried to put Alpha force into it, but it was always weaker when Jacob was in La Push and for the high-ranked Seth it wasn't strong enough.

'Yes', Henry allowed and the inescapable pain followed in a split second. I cursed and dug my paws into the ground to get hold of something. Why the hell hadn't Jacob used his Alpha force when he ordered Seth to obey? Fortunately, it didn't last as long as last time.

'Sorry', Seth whispered, 'You should phase back, you know. You, too, Dave. I'm not going to cave in.'

He got up and took the same posture as before.

'Phase back, Dave!' Seth ordered with Beta force and Dave had no other option than to obey.

'Seth! Don't be stupid! They aren't even forcing you into anything yet! The minute Bella is here and can protect the pack's minds through Jacob's you may stand up to them but not as long as', the pain cut me off. I grit my teeth. This time it didn't stop early. It felt like it would never end. When it finally faded, both Seth and I lied on the ground panting.

'So the mind connection only works when you're in your wolf forms. Interesting. Your friend's smarter than you', Cora stated, 'Maybe I should try torturing him to make you obey.'

Dave, who lied naked in his corner, shot Seth a frightened glance.

'Seth, I'm going to get Jake. If you haven't given in until I'm back with him, he'll Alpha command you to obey them.'

'Okay, okay. That was enough torture for one night I think', he agreed, went over to Dave to stand in front of him, but ducked his head submissively. It was still a protective gesture, but it satisfied Henry.

'Enough, Cora. Hey, sandy one, turn into your human form.'

'Do it, Seth!' I ordered.

'But then you can't see what happens anymore!' Seth complained.

'Doesn't matter. Do I have to get Jake to make you obey? It's for your own good, stubborn fool!'

'No! Don't get Jake! And don't tell Leah anything you saw. I'll be back when they leave us alone.'

And with that he finally obeyed and phased back. I sighed. On the one hand I was relieved, but on the other hand I was worried sick what the vampires would do to them. I went to Sam and Emily's, curled up on the ground under Autumn's window and tried to sleep a little.

I woke up when someone patted my head.

"Wake up, Embry. You don't want Autumn to see you like this, do you?"

I raised my head and looked at Sam. He looked sadly back. He already knew what had happened.

'Seth? Dave?' I asked tentatively. Nothing.

'They haven't phased in the last two hours', Jacob informed me. 'Tell me what happened until they phased back. Then you can go see Autumn.'

I quickly let the pictures of the arrival at the mansion and the scene in the basement pass before my mind's eye.

'Next time you phase back and don't let you be tortured as well', Jacob ordered.

'Okay', I sighed.

'Bella and Edward will arrive in Seattle on Saturday morning. There weren't enough available seats for all of them, so the others have to take a subsequent flight. Now, phase back and try to distract yourself somehow.'

I did as I was told and pulled my cutoffs on. Sam led me into the house where Emily offered me a strong black coffee. I sat down at the kitchen table and stared blankly at the cup in front of me.

"You don't blame yourself, Embry, do you?" Sam asked frowning. I shrugged. Did I blame myself? I had no idea. I felt kind of numb. Numb and helpless. Emily placed a plate with bacon and eggs in front of me.

"Thank you, Emily, but I'm not really hungry."

"You're kidding me, aren't you? You haven't eaten since yesterday evening! Where's your wolf appetite?" Emily asked.

"Just start eating. I'm sure your appetite will grow with the eating", Sam advised.

I started poking my bacon.

"Do you have work today?" Emily asked sympathetically.

"No. I called in sick for the rest of the week."

Autumn came downstairs then. When she saw me, her face lit up and she ran the remaining distance between us to hug me in a tight embrace. I had always minded to wear a shirt when I was with her, but right now she didn't seem to care about my shirtless chest. I hugged her back. She pulled away with a smile on her lips that faded as she mustered my face. She turned to look at Sam and Emily and then turned back to me. She frowned and in her eyes I could clearly see the urgent question of what had happened. She pulled out her cell, typed quickly and showed me the display. _Some1 died?_

"No, Autumn, nobody died", I replied adding a _Yet_ in my head.

"Things didn't go too well last night. There was a twist which we weren't prepared for."

Her eyes pleaded for more details. I was astonished how well I could already read her. But she wasn't ready for the truth yet. She had to deal with her past and didn't need a supernatural world that was currently unpredictable on top of that.

Emily handed her a plate of pancakes. She sat down reluctantly, but kept watching me. I ignored it and turned to my bacon. Renesmee entered the house without knocking. As Jake's imprint she was an equal member of our big wolf pack/family. Emily hugged her.

"Hi, Nessie. How are you?"

"I'm fine", she sighed showing that she was only physically fine.

"The Denalis are coming", she told me, "Did Jake already tell you when my parents will be here?"

I nodded. Only then Renesmee seemed to notice Autumn.

"Oh, hi! I'm Renesmee, but you can call me Nessie. You must be Autumn."

Autumn nodded.

"Do you want to join us for breakfast, Nessie?" Sam asked.

"No, thanks, I've already had breakfast with Emmett."

Probably a deer since they wouldn't have gone too far to hunt.

"Have you already seen Leah or Zack this morning?" I asked.

"No. But there's a sign at the Den that it's closed until further notice due to a family affair", she answered. I sighed.

"I should go and look after them."

"I'll go to Leah. You can check on Zack", Sam offered.

Autumn placed a hand on my arm and squeezed it lightly, again pleading for details. My phone buzzed and gave me the excuse to ignore her once more. I looked at the caller ID and rejected the call. I didn't have the strength to talk to my Mom right now. Not one minute later she called again. I sighed and picked up.

"Why did you reject my call?" she yelled loud enough for even Autumn and Emily to hear. I held the phone away from my ear.

"I'm sorry, Mom", Autumn glared at me, "it's just a very inopportune moment. Can I call you back another day?"

"Another day?" she yelled, "I wanted to accept your deal and you can suddenly wait for my big secret to be revealed?"

"Oh. The deal. Right."

"Don't tell me you've changed your mind! My secret for yours, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was, and no, I haven't changed my mind. It's just really not the best day for it."

"Okay, then we'll meet tomorrow."

"Tomorrow might not be the best day either."

"Why? Are you busy again? Don't you have half an hour to spare for your Mom?"

I took a deep breath.

"Look, Seth and Dave are in big trouble and I'm worried sick about them, okay? So, please, can we wait a few days?"

Autumn's eyes widened. I knew she liked Seth. Maybe I shouldn't have said any names.

"Very well then", Mom said huffily, "Just call me when the moment is opportune for you."

She hung up without waiting for a response.

"Adrian! Emma! You're late!" Emily called upstairs. I had finished my breakfast and stood up.

"I'm going to Zack's now", I announced. Autumn grabbed my wrist and tried another time to plead for details. I sighed.

"Seth is going to be alright. He and Dave have been captured, but we're going to save them. Don't worry."

I kissed her on the forehead and left. Outside in the woods I phased.

'Anything new, Jake?'

'No.'

'I'll check on Zack. Sam will look after Leah.'

'Good.'

'Can you howl when they phase?'

'Embry, take a break from the leader's duties. I'm here now. I'll care for everything.'

'I just want to know what's happening to them! Seth is my Beta, my flat mate and my best friend! You might not have realized it, but I think your bond to the pack has weakened during the time you spent away from us. Maybe that's why you can't understand how I'm feeling right now!'

'Ugh, Embry, do you even listen to yourself? Of course I know what you're feeling! What do you think why I'm staying phased? Just for my pleasure? Certainly not! Phase back and don't return before you can think straight again.'

* * *

I spent the morning with Zack fishing. He was a self-employed fisherman and couldn't drop his work for several days as he depended on the money. Maybe it was good to at least have something to do, although fishing isn't really the most exciting and distracting work of all. Zack was serious and close-mouthed. He refused talking about Dave at all. Nonetheless I had the impression that he was grateful for my presence and my solicitousness. At noon we returned to the shore and Zack sold the fishes to a Quileute who gathered the catches of the local fishermen and resold the fish to restaurants and at the Port Angeles fish market.

"Shall we check on the latest news?" I asked Zack afterwards.

"Yeah."

We walked to the woods. Zack didn't seem too eager to hear about his brother's suffering. When I started to take my clothes off, he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Embry?"

"Mmmh?" I hummed.

"If you and Jake get Dave out of there alive then I'll never disobey ever again."

I simply nodded. We phased.

'Hey, Jake. I'm sorry for what I said this morning. I pulled myself together now.'

'It's okay. You were right after all. I've grown apart from the pack slightly. Maybe I should visit more often.'

'Or you could just phase more often', I suggested.

'Yeah. I definitely should.'

Zack got impatient.

'Any news about my brother?'

'Yes. He phased involuntarily a few hours ago. Seth hasn't phased yet, but he better should. Dave obeyed our orders to obey the vampires and agreed to serve them as guard dog. Since then they've left him more or less alone, though that bitch Cora punished him for phasing without permission. Seth on the other hand doesn't obey. Cora has been torturing him for hours and only gave him a one-hour break this morning because Giacopo – the second leader besides Henry – told her to. She didn't only use her gift, but also electric shocks. She wanted to appeal to Seth's protective side and tame him by threatening to torture Dave, but luckily Giacopo forbid that. Paul and Dave received some breakfast. Hardly enough to satisfy a wolf's hunger, but at least something. They were being watched while they ate so that they wouldn't share with Seth. I hope he's given in by now or else he'll kill himself.'

'How's Dave's constitution?'

'He's scared of course, but other than that he's acquitting himself quite well. His chance to survive this is considerably higher than Seth's.'

'Jake, you could need a break as well. Let me take over the watch', I begged.

'Well then', he agreed hesitantly, 'I'll spell you when school's over. If Seth phases and still hasn't caved in to the vampires demands, you'll howl so that I can phase and use my Alpha force. Zack, let's go have some lunch.'

'I want to stay as well! Please, I want to talk to my brother next time he phases.'

'Leah isn't allowed to stay phased either. You're coming with me.'

It was clear that that was Jake's final say. Zack growled lowly and phased back reluctantly. My stomach growled, too, announcing that it wanted some lunch as well. I hunted down a hare. Raw meat wasn't one of my favorite foods, although when in my wolf form it was eatable and better than nothing. I would never understand though how one could live of nothing else than raw game animals as Jake had in his depressed grieving-for-Bella-phase and as Brady recently had. Even now after he'd returned he had only phased back because Jake had ordered him to.

After one hour or so of uneventful waiting, Dave phased.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Now she's going to torture me again!'

'Calm down, Dave, and tell me what happened since last time you phased.'

'I don't have time. She's going to start any second!'

Cora was looking at him and shook her head.

'Tsk, tsk, tsk', she said, 'I thought I had made myself clear. We don't tolerate phasing without permission. You knew that didn't you?'

'Please, don't torture him!' Seth pleaded, 'He couldn't help it! He's only been a wolf for a few days. He can't control the phasing yet.'

Other than Dave and Paul who were both only chained by their ankles because they were the only part of the body that didn't change much in size when we phased, Seth had chains not only on his ankles, but also on his wrists.

'Then he shall phase back immediately. I might make an exception then.'

'He can't. It takes some time to pull oneself together in order to concentrate on phasing back!'

'Hmm. Would you take it upon yourself to receive the punishment that is meant for him?'

'Yes.'

I groaned. Cora smiled contentedly and in the twinkling of an eye Seth screamed in pain and tore at his chains in agony. Dave whimpered.

'Concentrate now, Dave. What happened since you've spoken to Jake?' I asked while I struggled to ignore Seth's pain.

'Seth capitulated about two hours ago. But nevertheless he didn't get any lunch while Paul and I did and Cora's coming back every full hour to torture him again in order to remind him to stay submissive. I don't think he'll survive until Saturday.'

'Seth is strong. He doesn't let himself be killed so easily. Just remind him that we're going to save you. I promise that you'll all be free in three days at the latest, hopefully already in two. Okay?'

'That'll be too late for Paul.'

'Why?' I asked anxiously.

'They don't believe us – or they don't want to believe – that he cannot phase anymore. If he hasn't phased until tomorrow morning, they'll try their venom on him.'

'Oh my God. As long as Bella isn't here, we can't do anything against them. Blanche would just knock us out again. Paul…', I trailed off helplessly.

'Don't blame yourself. He doesn't want you to. You know he was going to die anyway.'

'That doesn't change anything!'

'I'm sorry. It's what he told us. He says he's ready to die. I should phase back now.'

'Yes, okay. Good luck. And maybe you can beg the leeches to spare Paul.'

'I'll try. Bye.'

'Bye.'

Then he was gone again and I could only hope that Cora would stop torturing Seth when Dave was back in his human form. His screams which I hadn't been able to shut out reechoed in my head.

* * *

_More Autumn in the next chapters, she won't become a minor character ;) _

_I've got a question. I'm going to be really busy on 24th and 25th. I could steal a little time to update, but I'm only going to do that if someone appreciates it. Therefore, my question: Are you busy over Christmas, too, and won't find the time to read, or do you want me to continue updating once a day because you don't want to wait three days for the next update? There's a poll on my profile for that, but of course you can also leave your answer in a review.  
_


	14. Chapter 14

_No reviews for last chapter :( If my siblings hadn't arrived today, I would hav_e_ been so frustrated all day. And it would have been your fault. Review this time, please, so that I'll have a better start into the day tomorrow._**  
**

* * *

**Drawings**

I wanted to run to Seattle right now and raid the mansion, kill every leech and torture Cora before killing her last. But that was impossible. We stood no chance against them as long as Bella wasn't here. I buried my muzzle under my paws and whimpered.

"No, Autumn, I don't think we should go further into the woods."

My head shot up at the sound of Olivia's voice.

"Yes, we heard that, too. But now it's gone", Cory answered an inaudible question.

"Autumn! There are wild animals in these woods! Maybe it's not just a cute dog, but a wolf!" he shouted. Leaves rustled under the quick paces of a running person.

"Autumn!" Olivia yelled.

Then Autumn came around a bush and skidded to a halt with a short squeak and stared wide-eyed at me. I lowered my head onto my paws to show her my peaceableness. She seemed frozen. Olivia and Cory reached the scene.

"What did I tell you? A wolf!" Cory whispered, "You're lucky he's not aggressive, because wild wounded animals usually are."

Autumn made a step towards me. Cory grabbed her arm to hold her back. He wanted to keep up the mask and pretend that I was a wild wolf. I crawled backwards a foot or two before I turned and ran away.

"See? He wasn't even wounded. He could have killed you without effort", Cory reasoned. I wondered what the three of them were doing in the forest. Weren't they supposed to be in school? But then I heard the voices of other teenagers and a teacher calling them together. I headed cautiously deeper into the forest.

Later Jacob phased to take over.

'I can continue, Jake. I'm not in the mood to meet Autumn's questioning eyes anyway.'

'Cory told me they've met you in the woods. You were whimpering.'

'The bitch continues to torture Seth although he's given in!'

'Really? He did?'

'Yes. And Paul is going to be killed tomorrow morning.'

'No!'

'Yes. Unless vampire venom turns a shape-shifter who stopped phasing instead of killing him.'

'I doubt that.'

'Me too. Paul says he's ready to die and of course due to his tumor he doesn't want us to try to save him.'

'Well, we couldn't even if we wanted to.'

'I know.'

'Anything else?'

'They're still starving Seth.'

'Okay, thank you. Now go and get yourself something to eat. We'll all have to be in best constitution possible for the rescue mission. And I don't want you to phase again until tomorrow. Sleep through this night. I'll Alpha command you if necessary. Understood?'

'What about your sleep?'

'I'll catch up tomorrow when you take over the watch again.'

'Do I get to watch for more than three hours tomorrow?'

'Yes. From seven a.m. to four p.m. How does that sound?'

'Acceptable.'

'You know, before you became my deputy you were much easier to handle.'

I would have grinned if I had been in laughing mood, but I wasn't.

'Well, tough luck! Okay, I'm going now. See you.'

'See you.'

I phased back and went home. I was glad to find that Quil must have refilled the fridge because otherwise it would have been empty. I simply hadn't thought of grocery shopping lately. I grabbed a steak and a zucchini, found some pasta in the cupboard and started cooking. I was cutting the zucchini and was waiting for the water to boil when the doorbell rang. I went to the door reluctantly.

"Oh, hey Autumn!" I said surprised and happy to see her although I dreaded having to ignore her questioning looks again.

"You know you can just come in without ringing. Everyone does. I'm cooking, are you hungry?"

She shook her head. I went back to my zucchini. She followed me, sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and watched me. I was shirtless again, but this time I didn't really care as she seemed alright with it. I only caught her staring at my abs once, whereas during the other time she watched the movement of my hands cutting the zucchini.

"So, how was school today? Anyone bullied you?"

Another shake of her head.

"Anything exciting happened?"

She nodded and smiled.

"What? Has a guy asked you out?" I asked although I thought I knew the answer. But the idea of Autumn with another guy scared me. I mean, not that I really had romantic feelings for her. Not yet. But when she was ready to open to a boy, I wanted to be that boy.

She laughed and shook her head again. She grabbed her backpack and pulled a sketchbook out of it. She skimmed through the sheets until she found the one she was looking for and showed it to me. She had painted me in my wolf form, lying on the forest ground with my head on my paws, just like she had seen me today.

"You've drawn another wolf!" I behaved unknowingly, "That's a pretty one. But I don't see what could be exciting about him."

She gestured out of the window where the forest could be seen and pointed to her eyes and then to the drawn wolf.

"You've seen it in the forest?" I asked hesitantly, as if I wasn't sure whether I translated her gestures correctly. She nodded eagerly. I frowned.

"What have you been doing in the forest during school?"

She pulled something else from her bag. It was a Biology book.

"Oh. Your teacher went there with you?"

She nodded.

"And then you met this wolf? How far have you been into the woods? They don't usually come close to the houses."

She shook her head.

"What do you mean? You haven't been far?"

Nod.

"Strange. I assume you ran away immediately when you saw the wolf?"

She blushed and looked down.

"You didn't? Autumn, wild animals are dangerous!"

She pointed to the drawn wolf again and shook her head.

"That one isn't? How do you want to know that?"

She shrugged and crossed her arms. Translation: I just know it! I sighed.

"Promise me that you will be more careful next time."

She rolled her eyes, but she nodded.

"Now, I still want to have one of your drawings. Can I keep that one?"

She shook her head and skimmed through the sheets again. I saw her halting shortly at a drawing that showed Seth, smiling happily as he usually did. I swallowed hard. Autumn paged forward, but she kept a finger between the sheets to remember the position of Seth's drawing. Then she stopped at a picture that showed a sunset at the beach. She showed it to me and raised her eyebrows.

"You mean I could keep that one?"

She nodded and shrugged.

"Okay. Thanks", I smiled. She detached the paper from the book and leaned it against the wall at the kitchen table. Then she returned to Seth's picture, turned it to me and put that questioning look on. I sighed.

"We have to wait for reinforcement. Maybe we can rescue him on Saturday. If not, we'll free him on Sunday at the latest. We know that he's still alive and hopefully he'll survive the next days as well. Don't worry."

She raised her eyebrows, telling me that she knew very well that I had worries myself.

"If you want to drink something, help yourself", I said in an attempt to drop the subject. Autumn got herself a glass of orange juice and started drawing. When I had finished cooking and eating, she had finished her drawing. She had copied the picture of Seth. She detached it and put it next to the sunset.

"Thank you."

She smiled sadly.

"So, what shall we do to distract ourselves?"

Autumn pondered for a moment before she pulled out her cell and started typing.

"You know, instead of typing it into your cell you could simply tell me."

She looked up and glowered.

"Sorry", I sighed, "I just don't understand why you started talking only to stop it again not 24 hours later. That frustrates me."

She looked apologizing at me.

"It's okay. I don't want to push you."

She showed me the text on the display. _Tell me about the Quileute legends._ Oh no, had she caught something that evening when the spying woman was at the Den? I frowned. How could I turn her down?

"The bonfires have a much better atmosphere for that. You should hear them there for the first time."

She pouted and looked at me with a puppy dog face.

"Why do you want to hear them so badly?"

She quickly typed the answer into her cell. _Coz they're about wolves. & I love wolves._

Should I tell her the legends without the parts that could lead her to the conclusion that they were true and that I was a wolf? She was typing yet again. It took her longer this time.

_I know there's a book about the legends. I'll buy it if u don't tell me. Olivia & I wanted 2 go 2 Port Angeles 2morrow anyway._

I frowned again. There was a book about Quileute legends, but it didn't give away any details that could make an observant person believe they were true.

"You really shouldn't go to Port Angeles at the moment. It's not safe."

_Then tell me._

"Very well then. Let's go to the beach and I'll tell you the legend about the wolves. But you have to promise me that Olivia and you put off your trip to Port Angeles. You can go next week if I say that it's safe again then. Do we have a deal?"

She offered me her hand and smiled happily. I shook it.


	15. Chapter 15

_Since the last chapter was rather short and the first half of this chapter only contains the legend that you already know, I'm_ _putting up these two together.**  
**_

* * *

**Legend**

On the way to the beach I asked myself if I had made the wrong decision. Cory wouldn't have allowed Olivia to go to Port Angeles at the moment anyway. On the other hand I wanted Autumn to know. She loved wolves and she wasn't even scared when she met one. So she wouldn't be afraid of me either, would she? But I couldn't tell her about the cold ones. I would only tell her the legend of the spirit warriors and how Taha Aki became the first shape-shifter. Autumn and I found a log to sit on.

"Okay, so this is the legend about how our ancestors fraternized with wolves and became ones themselves. We've always been a small people and we were only able to survive because we've magic in our blood. We used to be spirit warriors. The men of our tribe were able to separate their spirit from their bodies. That way, they could fly over the country and watch out for dangers. No human could see them, but the animals could and they also understood them and would do their bidding. The spirit warriors also heard the thoughts of other spirits in the spirit world.

Kaheleha was the first great Spirit Chief whose story lived on in our legends. We had settled in this harbor, which was rich in fish. A large tribe wanted our land and we weren't enough to defeat them. We escaped on our ships. Kaheleha didn't want to give up like that though. While the women watched over their bodies, the warriors took their spirits back to the land. They couldn't physically touch the enemies, but they could blow a fierce wind and add a great screaming to it. The occupiers of our land were terrified. They had large dogs with thick fur that pulled their sleighs in the north. The spirit warriors ordered the dogs to turn against their masters and instructed the bats that lived in the cliff caverns to infest the enemy tribe. Those who survived ran off in different directions, thinking that our harbor was cursed. The dogs ran wild after having been released by the spirit warriors. Our tribe returned to its home.

Our neighbors, the Hohs and the Makahs, wanted nothing to do with our magic. They wanted to live in peace with us and so we made treaties with them. The spirit warriors always defeated our enemies and generations passed. According to the legend, Taha Aki was the last great Spirit Chief. He was a very wise and peaceful man and a good chief. However, one of his spirit warriors thought they should use their magic to enslave the Hohs and the Makahs and build an empire. His name was Utlapa. In the spirit world he couldn't hide these thoughts from Taha Aki. The Chief got angry and banned him from the tribe. He wasn't allowed to enter the spirit world ever again. Utlapa was strong, but Taha Aki's warriors outnumbered him. He had to leave and hid in the forest, seeking revenge.

Even when there was no known threat, the Spirit Chief went to a sacred, secret place in the mountains where he left his body to search the coast and the forests for approaching dangers. Utlapa followed Taha Aki there. He intended to kill him, but the spirit warriors would have chased him down and killed him too. Hiding in the rocks, watching the Chief prepare his spirit travel, Utlapa had a different idea. When Taha Aki had left his body and Utlapa could be sure that the Chief's spirit had gained some distance, he, too entered the spirit world. Taha Aki knew his plan immediately, but he was too far away to come back in time to stop him. Utlapa possessed Taha Aki's body and cut his own body's throat, leaving Taha Aki with no escape from the spirit world.

He had to watch helplessly how Utlapa took his place as Chief. Utlapa took a few weeks to make sure that everybody believed him to be Taha Aki. Then he started the changes. He forbid the warriors to enter the spirit world, claiming that he had had a vision of danger, although in reality he just didn't want his deceit to be discovered. he didn't enter the spirit world himself either, afraid that Taha Aki would immediately claim his body. Of course that crashed his dreams of an empire. He contented himself with ruling the tribe. But he wasn't a good chief like Taha Aki. He wanted privileges, like not having to work alongside his warriors and taking a young second wife and then a third although Taha Aki's first wife lived on. The Quileute never had more than one wife.

Meanwhile, Taha Aki could only watch furiously. To free his tribe from Utlapa's burden, he tried to kill his body. He sent a fierce wolf to attack him, but Utlapa hid behind his warriors and the wolf killed a young warrior instead because he protected the false chief. Taha Aki grieved for the young man and called the wolf back.

The legends tell us that being a spirit warrior wasn't as easy as it sounds. It was frightening and disorienting to be freed from one's body. That's the reason why they only used this power in times of need. Taha Aki felt he was doomed – never to cross over to the final land where his ancestors waited, stuck in this torturous nothingness forever. The wolf had followed him through the woods and suddenly Taha Aki was jealous of the dumb animal. It had a body and a life. Even life as an animal would be better than the horrible empty consciousness. Taha Aki then had an idea that would change us all. He asked the wolf if it would share his body with him. The wolf agreed. Relieved and grateful Taha Aki entered the animal's body.

As one, they returned to the tribe. The people were afraid of them and shouted for the warriors to come. The men ran to the wolf with their spears raised while Utlapa stayed safely hidden. Taha Aki didn't attack. Instead, he retreated slowly and tried to speak with his eyes and yelp the songs of his people. The warriors realized that the wolf wasn't an ordinary animal. They guessed that a spirit influenced it.

Yut, an old warrior, decided to disobey Utlapa's order and try to communicate with the wolf. When he entered the spirit wolf, Taha Aki left the wolf's body as well. He told Yut the truth and the old man welcomed the chief back. Meanwhile, Utlapa wanted to see if the wolf had been defeated. Seeing Yut's lifeless body, he instantly knew what had happened. He accused him of treachery and had his knife at Yut's throat the moment the warrior jumped back into his body. Yut couldn't even say one word to warn the others before Utlapa killed him.

Taha Aki watched Yut's spirit slip away to the final lands that Taha Aki would never get to see. He felt a great rage, more powerful than anything he'd felt before. He returned to the wolf's body and wanted to rip Utlapa's throat out. However, the wolf couldn't handle his human emotions – the rage, the love for his people and the hate for Utlapa. The wolf shuddered and transformed into a man, right in front of the shocked warriors and Utlapa. Taha Aki's new body didn't look like his old body. It was a lot more glorious, the flesh interpretation of his spirit. The warriors knew Taha Aki's spirit and therefore recognized him.

Utlapa tried to run, but Taha Aki's new body was as strong as the wolf. He caught the thief and crushed the spirit before he could jump out of the stolen body. The warriors understood what had happened and rejoiced. Taha Aki set everything right. he worked with his warriors again and gave the young wives back to their families. The only change he kept in place was the end of the spirit travels. It was too dangerous now that the idea of stealing a body was there. That was the end for the spirit warriors and the beginning for the wolf-men. Because from that point on, Taha Aki was more than either wolf or man. he was called Taha Aki the Great Wolf or Taha Aki the Spirit Man. he led the tribe for many, many years, for he didn't age."

I watched Autumn's face carefully at this point to see if she was already drawing conclusions. If she did, she hid it well.

"When the tribe was in danger, he would resume his wolf-self to fight or frighten the enemy. He fathered many sons. When they reached the age of manhood, some of them could transform into wolves just like their father. They were all different, because they were spirit wolves and reflect the man they were inside. Some of his sons became warriors with Taha Aki and no longer aged. Others didn't like the transformation and refused to join the pack of wolf-men. Those started to age again and the tribe discovered that the wolf-men could grow old like any human if they gave up their spirit wolves.

After the deaths of his first two wives, Taha Aki married his true spirit wife. He had loved the others, too, but the third was special. He gave up his spirit self to grow old with her and die when she did. Times passed and the descendants of Taha Aki no longer became wolves when they came of age. Only in a great while, when danger was near, would the wolves return", I finished and looked at her again. She looked down at the sand in front of her, a small smile caressing her mouth. I cleared my throat.

"So, what do you think? Did you like it?"

She nodded, still avoiding my gaze.

"Hey, that's not fair. If you don't talk to me I want to at least study your face."

Finally she looked up and straight into my eyes and I instantly knew that she had drawn conclusions. I was relieved that there was no fear at all in her eyes, just some sort of triumphant I-knew-it look. I looked back provokingly. She grinned, got up and pulled me with her. All the way back home she didn't let go of my hand, even when I caught up with her and walked at her side. She went straight into the kitchen, grabbed her abandoned sketch book and skimmed through the sheets until she found the one of me in my wolf form. She pointed to the wolf and then to me and raised her eyebrows questioningly. I hesitated as I wasn't sure whether I should really confirm the truth, but that hesitation was enough for Autumn. Her smile widened and she nodded knowingly. She pointed to the eyes of the wolf and then mine. I smiled back.

"You've caught me", I admitted, "You've disclosed the great secret of the Quileute protectors. Congratulations!" Her eyes sparkled. She pointed to the drawing of Seth and raised her eyebrows again.

"Yes, he's a shape-shifter as well."

She then pointed to the ceiling. Right above the kitchen was Quil's room.

"He used to be, but he started aging again. You remember Taha Aki's third wife, his spirit wife? Claire is Quil's spirit wife. Jacob, Collin, Aaron, Chad, Simon, Sky and Zack are also shape-shifters and Dave is our newest pack member. Then there's also Brady, but he's having a tough time and stayed in his wolf form, that's why you haven't met him yet. Sam, Jared, Lennie and Cory used to be shape-shifters, but, like Quil, they imprinted – that's how we call it when we find our spirit wife – and started aging again. Paul, do you remember? He was missing and his car was found burnt out?"

She nodded.

"He's also a former pack member. He lives in Seattle with his imprint. He's been captured by the same people that captured Seth and Dave. Oh, and last but not least, there's Leah, the only female shape-shifter that has ever lived. She started aging again at the same time Paul did, but she hadn't imprinted, she simply didn't want to be a wolf anymore. But she had a lot of trouble with her husband who drank too much and too often and last week she got really pissed off when she found out that he's been cheating on her for two years. Anger is what makes us phase in the first place. And although it's really rare that someone who stopped phasing gets angry enough to phase again, Leah did it."

I looked at the watch above the kitchen door.

"It's dinner time. Shall we go to the Den or would you feel uncomfortable about being in the same room as a bunch of shape-shifters?"

She shook her head and hugged me, burying her face in my bare chest.

"Okay, I guess you have no problem at all with being around a shape-shifter. You know, you're taking it better in than any other person before. Come on, let's go to the _Wolf's Den_ - literally."

She held me back and pointed to Seth's picture again with that pleading look. I sighed.

"I can't tell you by whom he's been captured. One day I'll definitely tell you, but not yet. Do you remember what I said about the spirit warriors? That they could hear each other's thoughts? We kind of inherited that ability. When we're in our wolf form we can communicate through our thoughts. That's why I know for sure that Seth and Dave are still alive. Their hijackers are quite powerful and it's a larger group than the groups we usually have to deal with. But Nessie's parents and others are on their way and Nessie's Mom is quite powerful herself. With their help it will be easy to free our friends."

Convincing her that there was nothing to worry about helped me convincing myself as well. Not completely, though, as the thought of Paul's short available time kept coming back to torment me.

Although Autumn seemed to believe me, my answer didn't satisfy her. She still wanted to know the details. But there was no way I was going to tell them her soon. We went to the Den where Autumn stopped in front of the door when she saw the sign that declared the restaurant to be closed due to a family affair.

"That sign doesn't concern us. This place is always open to us", I said while opening the unlocked door and waving Autumn in. Everyone except Leah and Aaron were already there, even Emmett, nevertheless it was deadly silent. Everyone turned to us as we entered. Autumn turned to me as well, crossed her arms and looked upset. Of course this didn't make sense to her unless I had lied. If we were all sure that the rescue mission would be successful then there wouldn't be a funeral atmosphere here. I whispered very lowly:

"Paul will most likely die before we can save him."

Her eyes widened. I was glad that she didn't know Paul. Otherwise I wouldn't have told her what troubled us all. She hugged me – I really could get used to her hugging me this often – and rubbed my back soothingly.

"Where are Leah and Aaron?" I asked Jacob.

"Aaron watches them so that I can be here. Leah is in her flat. She already ate and threw some sleeping pills in since she wasn't able to get a wink of sleep otherwise."

Autumn went to the restrooms and I took the opportunity.

"I told Autumn the legend about the spirit warriors today and she drew the right conclusions. So she knows what we are and is surprisingly fine with it. But I haven't told her about the vampires. And although she knows that imprinting means to find his spirit wife, I didn't tell her that I imprinted on her and I don't think that she drew that conclusion herself yet."

"Why didn't you tell her about the leeches? If she can handle werewolves, why shouldn't she be able to handle them as well?" Simon asked.

"She loves wolves and the legends say clearly that we aren't dangerous, but, quite the contrary, protectors. She doesn't handle everything so easily, as you can clearly see by how she's handling her abusive father."

"Chill, man, I just asked!"

Something in the kitchen beeped and Emily went to get three large casseroles from the stove. Autumn returned as well and everyone quickly loaded his plate with food. When we wanted to dig in, Sky poked on the melted cheese sluggishly.

"I wonder if Seth still didn't get to eat anything", he said quietly and stopped us all from stuffing our faces. I had lost my appetite. Autumn looked at me vexedly.

"He'll be fine", Sam said, "Even though we need more food than humans it would take the lee…", he corrected himself, "his capturers more than a few days to starve him to death. They're weakening him, that's all."

"Eat, Sky, it doesn't help Seth when you don't, in the contrary, he needs you as strong as possible", Jacob ordered, "Eat. Everyone."

* * *

_Remember the poll! If nobody votes, there'll be no updates over Christmas. Your choice._


	16. Chapter 16

**I'd rather die**

I didn't sleep very well this night and so I got up early and joined Jacob in the woods at half past six.

'You could have slept another half hour', he immediately argued.

'No, I couldn't. I've already been awake for an hour. Maybe I should have drugged myself like Leah. Any news?'

'Dave phased near midnight when they were left alone for a short while. Seth got dinner, but less than Paul and Dave. That Cora bitch kept coming back every full hour to torture Seth. When he slept in the evening, she started her pain projection without even bothering to wake him beforehand. I hope she didn't continue like that all night.'

'I think she did. She's even more cruel than Jane.'

'Yeah. Defi…', he was cut off by Dave's phasing.

'No, no, no, no, no! You can't do that!' he growled instantly and through his mind we could see Henry, Cora, Blanche and another vampire with dark blond hair standing in front of him. Seth's chains were too short to reach Dave, but nevertheless he struggled against them furiously. Henry made a sign to the dark blond and then Dave's chains tightened around his ankles and pulled him back until he was at the wall. The chains rearranged themselves so that he was chained as short as Seth.

'What the hell? What kind of trick is that?' I wondered.

'We think the dark blond leech has a telekinetic gift', Jacob explained.

We could now see what had maddened Dave. The four leeches stepped closer to Paul.

'No!' I whined.

'Are you still sure that you don't want to phase?' Henry asked him.

'Even if I wanted to, I couldn't', Paul clarified, sounding annoyed.

'Then I fear we have no other opportunity than to kill or turn you – whatever the venom does to you. We can't feed you for nothing.'

'You could set me free', Paul smirked. That was so Paul. Even in contemplation of death he was still bold. Henry chuckled.

'Sorry, but that's not an option.'

'Dave, you promised to beg them for his life', I reminded him.

'I tried! I'm too angry. I can't even phase back right now.'

Paul's chains tightened like Dave's did earlier. The two women and the dark blond rushed forward and held him down in a way he couldn't move at all. The dark blond bent down and Cora tilted Paul's head to bare his neck. For a short moment Paul tried to fight the tight grip the leeches had on him, but then he stopped. He stayed tense and a flash of fear appeared in his eyes before he closed them. The dark blond leech bared his teeth. Dave, Jake and I all held our breaths.

'I love you Rachel. I love you, Lily and Noah', Paul whispered before the leech's fangs dug into his skin. Blondie quickly pulled away, coughed and made a disgusted face.

'Ew! Gross!' he complained and spat some of Paul's blood out. For a moment we thought the venom didn't affect Paul in a painful way, but then he grunted and clenched his fists and his teeth. The vampires backed away and went back behind the safe steel bars. Paul was convulsed with pain, his face a distorted mask of agony, but the only sound he made were quiet groans. Dave whimpered and Seth stared blankly at Paul. So far, we couldn't know for sure that Paul was going to die. Maybe a retired shape-shifter turned into a vampire like any human would.

'I think this will take some time', Henry announced, 'A human needs a few days to turn. A werewolf will suffer equally I guess, regardless whether he's dying or turning. Cora, get that pup under control already. He cannot phase whenever he wants to.'

'No!' Seth exclaimed, all protective again, 'He can't control it! He's only a three-day-old pup! Most of us needed at least one and half weeks to gain the slightest control over our phasing!'

Henry glanced briefly at him before he turned to Cora again.

'I thought you had tamed Sandy? Keep the hourly torture lectures up. Maybe you can try some other methods on him. He's got to finally learn to obey us without opposition.'

'Not very patient that man, is he?' Jacob asked, 'Dave, phase back before we get a dose of Cora's punishment as well. Phase again when you're alone to tell Embry how Paul's doing. And don't let Seth take your punishment on for him. I know you can't control it and you don't deserve to be punished for it, but Seth shouldn't take on more than he already gets for himself. Can you do that?'

Dave whimpered.

'Yes. But I doubt he'll listen to me.'

'Try it. Be brave. Be strong. When you notice that you're close to phasing involuntarily, take deep breaths, calm yourself and try not to think of what made you angry.'

'Okay. I'll try.'

And with that he phased back.

'Go, tell the others, Jake. It's my turn to watch now.'

'Okay', he sighed, 'Oh dear! How am I supposed to break this to Rachel gently?'

'Face-to-face, I'd say. Though I wouldn't want you in Seattle until Bella's here.'

'Then I'll just procrastinate this until tomorrow morning. I'll go see Rachel before we meet Bella and Edward at the airport.'

He sighed again.

'I'll better not procrastinate telling the others. I'm pretty sure most of them are at the Den anyway.'

'I'm so glad I'm not the Alpha right now.'

'Yeah, I should have ceded the job completely to you. Well then, see you later.'

'Yeah, see you later.'

He phased back and got dressed when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and then at me with horror in his eyes.

"Holy shit! It's Rachel!"

Nevertheless he pressed the green button and failed miserably at his attempt to sound neutral.

"Rachel! What's up?" His voice trembled a little and his nervousness was so in evidence that he wouldn't even have fouled a child with his acting.

"You know it? What happened, Jake? I – I – I felt something, I still do! What is it?"

"What do you feel?" Jacob asked in return, surprised.

"I don't know. It's my chest, it feels like it's going to implode, but not really, you know, not physically, though it hurts as much, it's more mentally I think. Like someone's tearing at my heart or my soul or whatever. Tell me now, what happened to Paul? Is he dead?"

She went hysterical at the end. Jacob sighed.

"No, Rachel, he's not dead, not yet."

"What do you mean, not yet?"

"Mommy, what's wrong?" I heard the quiet voice of Lily, Paul's and Rachel's 5-year-old daughter.

"Jake", she ignored her daughter and pleaded, "Tell me what happened!"

"A vampire poisoned him with his venom, Rachel. Either he's about to turn into one of them right now or, more likely, he's going to die. I'm so awfully sorry. I wish we could have done something."

"Why didn't you?" she yelled, breaking out into sobs at the end.

"Mommy?" Lily sounded scared.

"Come on, Lily, let's leave Mom alone for a while."

That was Noah who was only four years older than his sister but nevertheless he seemed to understand the situation and took responsibility for caring for Lily.

"I'm sorry, Rachel, but there was nothing we could do. They're too powerful. We have to wait for Bella's help. And Paul didn't want us to take the huge risk of trying without her. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Rachel. The doctors gave him a few weeks."

"No! He would have told me!"

"Well, he didn't. He was certainly planning on telling you, but maybe he had to come to terms with that diagnose first. The vampires think it will take some time for the venom to spread. Maybe, if we can free them tomorrow, he's still alive and you can talk to him. I'm so sorry, sis."

Nothing but sobs sounded from the other end of the line.

"We'll avenge him, Rachel. Promise."

"That won't bring him back", she cried, "Jake, I'm pregnant! I just found out yesterday, he doesn't even know! And the child will never know his father! And I – I can't live without him! I need him! He cannot die! Please, he can't be dying!"

"In case Paul's still alive when we get in contact with them next time, we'll tell him that he has another kid. And you know we would never leave you alone with your grief. You could come to live with Dad and I could stay for a while, too. Or if La Push carries too many painful memories, then I'm sure Becky would be happy to welcome you in Hawaii. You're not alone, okay?"

"How shall I tell the kids?" she whispered.

"Well, what did you tell them when he was first missing?"

"I told them he had to go on a business trip at short notice. I think Noah didn't believe me, though."

"Well, tell them part of the truth. That he has a brain tumor that's killing him."

"But Lily is such a father's girl. She adores him! She thinks he's invincible. How do I tell her that he's never going to come back? Oh my God, I'm talking like he's already dead, but he isn't, right? There's still hope."

The last sentence sounded more like a question. Jake sighed again and I could see that he couldn't bring himself to squash her hope.

"Yeah, a little. Hey, would you call me if you feel something like that pain in your chest again?"

"Sure. I hope you can save Seth and Dave", she replied quietly.

"I hope so, too. I'll call you when there's news about Paul or when we manage to free them."

"Thanks. Bye, Jacob."

"Bye, Rachel. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Jake hung up and turned to me.

"Well, you heard it. Tell Dave to tell Paul that he's fathered another kid."

I nodded my head. Jacob left and I was alone with my thoughts. Poor Rachel. Even though the imprints' feelings were nowhere near as strong as the wolves', they could still feel the imprint bond and I was about 80 percent sure that Rachel would never remarry. Great, now I'm talking like he's already dead, too.

Nothing happened in the next three hours. I was sure that if Jacob hadn't forbidden all the others to phase, there would be a lot of sad howling right now. Paul might have lived in Seattle for the last ten years, but he was still our brother.

Then suddenly, about ten o'clock, I heard someone phase and a horrified mind joined mine. I was quite surprised to notice that it was Seth. He growled, more out of instinct than willingly, because his thoughts were completely mixed up. He was in pain because his wrist chains dug into his flesh, but mostly his mind was filled with horror.

'Seth, shhh, calm down. Everything's going to be fine.'

'No, it's not. It's not. Never', he whined. Through his mind I saw Cora who seemed to have crashed into the steel bars. The bars were dented and there were fissures on her skin that were healing fast.

'What happened?' I asked flabbergasted.

'She… she', even in his mind he didn't dare name it, but he showed me his memory although I could feel that it ashamed him. He had been lying on the ground with his arms and legs stretched out and chained tight – the chains were still like that which made his current position as a wolf even more painful. Cora had been hovering over him.

'One false move and I'll torture you to near death, I swear. You know, I'm running out of ideas how to torture you, but still you dare protect that pup and answer back when you're not allowed to. I'll try this, maybe that's what can finally break you', she had said and had started to trail her cold fingers along his abs.

'I must admit that you are quite hot and I don't mean your body temperature. I never had a werewolf…', she had trailed off and her fingers had wandered farther down. She had closed them around his dick and had squeezed it and that's when Seth had exploded. The force of his phasing had thrown Cora through the room and against the bars.

She had finished healing and looked really pissed-off. But then she smiled evilly.

'Well, I guess I was on the right way. How lucky that Blanche found a way to prevent you wolves from phasing just an hour ago. I'll go get her and then we'll both have some fun together!' she announced happily.

'What?' I asked incredulously. 'How does Blanche prevent you from phasing?'

'She uses her gift. She cannot only knock people out cold, but make them dizzy in a way that keeps us, or at least Dave, from phasing. They tried a lot to madden him and provoke him to phase, but he didn't. But I won't phase back and they can't make me to. I rather endure this pain and any other pain they invent to torture me than the humiliation of being…', again he couldn't name it.

'What if they torture Dave to make you cave in?'

'Oh my God. No, I can't phase back. I'd rather die.'

'If you say so. What about Paul? Still alive?'

Seth turned to look at Paul. He was lying in his corner, obviously still in that immense pain.

'Tell him that Rachel is pregnant.'

'What? Rachel is pregnant?'

'Yeah. Poor girl.'

Cora returned with Blanche, the telekinesis leech and another, brown-haired bloodsucker.

'Eustace, the slender one with brown hair, can paralyze people for a few seconds', Seth told me.

'I think you better phase back unless you want to be tortured as well, Em', he added.

'No.'

'You're so masochistic.'

Cora smiled sweetly.

'Will you phase back voluntarily or do we have to make you?' she asked. Seth growled.

'Seth, don't be silly! They'll torture you to death!' Dave exclaimed.

'Like I said. I'd rather die than live with that humiliation.'

'Seth…', I trailed off. I could understand him, but I didn't want him to die.

'It's just one day left. We're going to free you tomorrow.'

'Shut up. Go get Jake and let him make me phase back. There's no way I'm doing that voluntarily.'

I whined. Jake wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that either if my Alpha voice was stronger. We couldn't decide this for him. Not this.

'Algernon, if you will?' Cora asked gently. Seth's chains tightened even more, digging deep into his flesh and tearing at his legs. Then there was the familiar burning pain that didn't stop until finally Blanche ordered Cora to stop.

'Give him the chance to reconsider phasing back!'

Cora was upset, but she stepped closer to Seth.

'Do you want to jump at the chance?' she asked while pulling a phone-sized device out of her décolleté. Seth bared his teeth in response. Cora bent down to him and electroshocked him with the device. That shock would have knocked a human out, but for Seth it was just horribly painful.

'Wanna jump now?' Cora asked before shocking him again. I buried my head under my paws.

'Seth!' I whined.

This went on for what felt like hours, but actually was "only" thirty minutes. Cora tortured Seth variantly with shocks, her pain projection, his chains and even a red-hot poker. Then she had the idea of touching his protective side by torturing Dave and Blanche allowed her to. At first, Seth remained willfully, but Dave's screams were hard to bear.

'Embry?'

'Seth?'

I had tried to support him during the last half hour and he gave me credit for not phasing back and suffering the pain projection with him.

'Promise me to not tell anybody. This is humiliating enough as it is. I don't want the whole pack to know.'

'You're going to phase back?'

Seth swallowed hard.

'Yes', he choked.

'Okay. I promise. I mean, Jacob could make me tell him, but I'll beg him not to do so', I sighed and continued, 'I don't know what more to say… Good luck? Stay strong? Build a wall around your soul and hide everything you suffer in that horrible basement room in the most backward corner of your mind.'

'No wall could be thick enough to protect my soul. But thanks, anyway.'

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and phased back. An afflicted howl escaped my muzzle before I could stop myself. First, I was too close to the houses of La Push. Second, how should I explain without telling Jake?

* * *

_Next update is going to be on 26th. Happy holidays!  
_

_Please review, not getting _any_ feedback is so frustrating!  
_


	17. Chapter 17

_Thank you so much for your revie_ws,_ I Am Switzerland101 and KittyPimms! They made me really happy :) Autumn sadly has a reason to stay silent for a little while longer. And you'll also have to wait a little more for good news.**  
**_

_Two persons voted for an update on 24th and luckily I went online to look for reviews, because otherwise I wouldn't have seen those votes. Therefore, here you are. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

**Broken**

'Embry?'

Speak of the devil.

'Um, yes, sorry about that.'

'What happened?'

'They're breaking Seth.'

'How?'

'With an evil kind of torture.'

'Could you clarify yourself? Don't let me worm everything out of you!'

'I can't. I promised Seth.'

'You spoke to Seth?' he asked me incredulously.

'Yes. You see, when Cora first tried that new method he phased because he was horrified. She continued torturing him in the old ways to get him to phase back, but he didn't.'

'And you stayed although she was projecting pain?' he asked angrily.

'It supported him! Anyway, Cora realized he wouldn't cave in this time, so she turned to Dave and tortured him and, well, you know Seth. He's too kind and protective to let someone else suffer for him. He phased back.'

'What kind of torture can be used on him when he's in his human form, but not when he's a wolf?'

'I won't tell you. Maybe I've already said too much.'

'Embry', he warned.

'Please, don't make me. Seth entrusted me with this secret. I'm sure he'll be broken when he gets out of there. The disappointment that one of his best friends betrayed him will make him even more miserable. So, please, don't.'

'You're scaring me, you know that? Well, I won't push you. What about Paul?'

'Unchanged. Still alive. Still in pain.'

'Did you get the chance to tell Seth about Rachel being pregnant between the tortures?'

'Yes.'

'Okay. Well, Rachel called me again and told me to get Paul to know that, if it's going to be a boy, she'll name him Paul, and if it's a girl, it'll be Paulina.'

'That's a great idea.'

'Yeah. Now go have a break.'

'What? No! Yesterday you said I'd be on watch until four!'

'Yes, but I've changed my mind. This bothers you a lot. I don't want you to break, too, okay? And if Seth phases again, I want to be there and see myself.'

'I think neither of them is going to phase any time soon.'

'Why?'

'Blanche found a way to use her gift differently. Instead of knocking the person out, she makes it dizzy. Dizzy enough for a shape-shifter to not phase even when he's young and being provoked.'

'Oh. Shit. How shall Bella protect them if they can't phase?'

'Blanche won't spend all the time down there concentrating on them being dizzy. But for the next few hours, she might.'

'Any other news?'

'They've got another talented leech who can paralyze his foe for several seconds.'

'Damn! How did they found all those talented bloodsuckers before Aro did?'

'I have no idea.'

Talking to Jake actually distracted me from thinking about what happened to Seth right now.

'Well then, I'm going back to Nessie.'

'Um, could you stay?'

'Why?'

'I need distraction.'

'Then phase back and distract yourself.'

'No', I said decisively.

'Sorry, Embry, but I need to sleep. I'll have the watch tonight and I want to be rested tomorrow.'

'Oh. Sure. Okay. Go.'

'I could ask Aaron if he'd like to join you.'

'Um, no thanks. It's alright. I'm fine alone.'

'I doubt that.'

'Really. I'll be fine.'

'See? I _am_ fine and I _will_ be fine are not the same statements. I'll get Aaron.'

I sighed.

'Fine.'

Ten minutes later Aaron joined me and did his best to distract me. We talked about random ordinary things and avoided to mention vampires, Seth, Paul or Dave. In the early afternoon Dave phased.

'Dave! Are you alone?' I asked.

'Yes. They finally had enough', he said with a sad voice.

'Aaron, phase back', I ordered. I didn't want Dave to think of what happened to Seth in front of Aaron. Dave would spoil the secret eventually as he couldn't hide his thoughts yet, but for Seth's sake I wanted that date to be a little farther in the future.

'Why?'

'Do it!' I ordered more insistently and he obeyed.

'Now, Dave, tell me what happened.'

'She raped him', he whined.

'Yeah, I guessed as much. What else?'

'It was my fault! He only phased back to protect me!' Dave blamed himself.

'It was not your fault! It was his decision! Anyway it's only Cora's fault. Blame her, not yourself.'

'She's broken him, Embry!' he whined, 'He's lost the last tiny bits of pride and willpower that were left in him! His eyes have lost their sanguineness. He's apathetic. He won't even talk to me! He just keeps staring blankly at some random spot at the wall or the ceiling.'

'Okay. Then it's your turn now to be the brave and encouraging friend. Tell him that you don't want him to take over your punishments. Support him. Speak up for him. Protect him if you can. Do you think you can do that?'

Dave swallowed.

'Yes.'

'Oh, and if Seth forgot about it, tell Paul that Rachel's pregnant. She wanted Paul to know that. And, what I didn't know yet when I told Seth is that Rachel's going to name the baby after Paul. If it's a daughter, she'll call her Paulina.'

'Okay. I'll tell him. Though I don't know if he still notices anything that happens in this room.'

'Why, did it worsen?'

'He's getting weaker. Apparently he's still in pain, but his clenched fists loosened and he's groaning constantly as if he's not able to fight it anymore.'

'Well, tell him anyway.'

'Sure.'

'Okay then, you should phase back before Cora decides to pay you another visit.'

'Yeah. But Embry?'

'Yes?'

'When I'm back home…'

'Yeah?'

'I don't want to be part of the pack. I don't want to hunt vampires. I want to stop phasing and forget about all of this.'

'Everyone will understand that. But, like I said, it will take you some years to gain enough control. I won't make you patrol or fight if you don't want to.'

'Thanks.'

'You're welcome.'

'I doubt that the others will understand though. They'll call me a coward and despise me.'

'No, they won't. Not everyone can be as brave as Seth. He's so brave that he's actually foolhardy. And I think most of us would have reacted the same way if they had gotten into something like this in their first days. Don't worry.'

'Damn it, I didn't want you to even hear that thought!'

'Well, I think it's good that I heard it. You can trust me and you can tell me everything, okay?'

'Yeah. Thanks.'

'Oh, and before you leave: You have to try to control your thoughts. The others shouldn't know about the rape, even Jake. So, when someone else than me is phased, don't think about it. Concentrate on something else, like all the other torture techniques or Paul or your life before all this shit happened. And when you can't help but think of it you have to imagine a wall in your head that keeps the others out. Imagine it a high, solid brick wall with your thoughts on one side and the thoughts of the others on the other side. Try to whisper your thoughts and believe that that whisper can't cross the wall, whereas any yelled thought could. That is the first step that allows you to hide your thoughts. It needs practice though and I doubt you'll succeed right away, so try to concentrate on something else if possible. Alright?'

'Yeah. I'll try my best. Bye.'

'Goodbye.'

'Good? No way!' he grumbled before he phased back. I guess I wasn't supposed to hear that last thought either. I nudged Aaron to tell him that he could rejoin me.

'Will you tell me why I wasn't supposed to hear what he had to say?'

'No.'

'Ugh. We'll all know anyway and you know that! As soon as Dave is back and we're all allowed to phase again, Dave won't be able to hide his memories of these days. So why don't you tell me now?'

'Because I promised Seth.'

The rest of the watch went by uneventfully. Aaron tried to sneak into my mind now and then to overcome my own mental wall, but I was known as the most mind-controlled wolf with good reason. My protective shield was strong and I was able to maintain it without much effort. Only the distraction of sudden danger could make my shield crumble. I also was the one to develop the hiding technique in the first place. The solid brick wall was the first step, followed by a more imaginary wall. But both walls could be seen by others and revealed that you hid something. Some of my pack mates had never managed to make the next step as it was difficult to explain how to hide the hiding itself. Half of them weren't able to hide one thought and share another either. I was. I could share a 'Well done' while simultaneously thinking 'That was a shambles'. Aaron had a good mind-control, too. He, unlike me, was sometimes able to overcome the mental walls of others and sneak into their secrets, but he rarely tried because he respected the personal privacy. Nevertheless my mind was a closed book to him.

* * *

I spent the afternoon at the beach with Autumn, Quil, Claire, Cory and Olivia. It was a warm, sunny day. We played volleyball for an hour and the girls worked up a sweat.

"Let's cool down in the water!" Claire suggested while already taking her top and shorts off. We all wore our bathing suits under our clothes, undressed quickly and ran into the incoming waves. Autumn wasn't as enthusiastic as the rest of us. She walked instead of running and when the waves reached her waist she didn't go any further. Quil plunged me under the surface and we wrestled in the water for a few minutes. Finally we pulled away laughing and went to our imprints. While Cory and Olivia were totally fixated on each other and seemed to have forgotten our presence, Claire and Autumn had started to splash each other with water. Quil demanded Claire's attention now, though, which left Autumn and me alone.

"Do you want to learn how to swim?" I asked. She bit her lip and looked at me doubtfully.

"Come on, it's not that difficult. To begin with, we'll practice the leg work. I'll hold your arms to prevent you from sinking and I'll go backwards. You tuck up your legs, spread them and push them backwards. I'll show you the move. Watch my legs."

I swam in a circle around her. Then we interlocked our arms and I started going backwards. Autumn tried to move her legs in the right way.

"Try to push more. At the moment I'm pulling you, but actually you should be pushing me."

When we had veered away from the others a few hundred feet, she had already improved a lot and was actually shoving me with every push.

"Okay, very good, we should head back now."

When we were back where we had started, I showed her the move of the arms.

"Let's try that this way. I hold on to your waist so that you don't have to be afraid of sinking and you try to swim around me."

At first I had to hold her tight because she actually was on the verge of drowning head-first, but with every round she made she improved and I loosened my grip until I barely touched her.

"See? You're swimming!"

She laughed and her moves faltered for a moment. I grabbed her tight again.

"Gotcha!"

She struggled to stand on her feet and panted exhausted.

"Enough for today, I'd say. Let's get out of the water before you get cold."

She already jittered a little. Back on the beach she wrapped herself in a towel. The others left the water as well now and we chatted until it was time for dinner. This afternoon at the beach was the distraction we all needed. We've had fun but now we had to face reality again. We dropped Autumn at Sam and Emily's because Emily wanted to spare her another evening with the depressed pack.

Jake caught me in front of the Den and we went a short way down the road to get out of the others' hearing range.

"Just so you know, I know what Cora's newest torture method is", Jacob started.

"Did Dave slip it?"

"Yeah. He tried to hide it, but he failed. I practiced some thought hiding with him afterwards and he tried hard. I think he's talented, he made some improvement. We'll continue the practice after dinner, provided that the vampires leave them alone, and hopefully in the end he'll be able to hide it from the others."

"So quickly?" I asked doubtfully.

"As I said, he's talented and he tries hard."

"Did Cora do it again or was it just that once?"

"So far just that once, but she hinted at repeating it in the evening."

"She's psychopathic."

"Yes, but she's going to pay for it. Now, what I wanted to discuss with you. I wanted four wolves to stay here for the protection of the res. Who do you think should stay and what do you think especially about Zack and Leah? Should they come with us or stay?"

I pondered for a moment.

"I think Zack should come, but we'll have to repress him so that his temper doesn't cause him to do something rash. Dave isn't close to the pack yet, that's why Zack should be there for him, I think. But Leah… well, I think she should stay home. She's got a hot temper, too, and it would be difficult to watch both of them. Seth won't need her, I think he even wouldn't want her to be there and see him like that."

"That's what I thought, too. Though I'm not sure if Zack shouldn't be staying as well. Who do you think should stay with Leah?"

"The weaker ones, Sky and Simon. And then either Brady or Chad."

"Hm. I actually thought of Collin, too, because he and Simon are the only ones with imprints."

"We both have imprints as well."

"Yes, but we're the leaders. Or do you want to stay? You can if you want."

"No, I don't want to. And I think Collin would say the same if you asked him."

"Okay, I'll ask him."

We went back to the Den where the others had already started to eat. When everyone had finished, Zack asked:

"So, Jacob, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"Four of us will stay here to protect the reservation. Bella and Edward's plane arrives at half past eight in the morning, so we'll drive at three o'clock. We'll pick them up and then we'll meet with Rosalie and discuss everything else."

"And who will have to stay?" Chad asked anxiously.

Jake turned to Collin.

"You've got an imprint here. Do you want to stay or would you rather help rescue Seth, Dave and Paul?"

"I want to help", Collin replied decidedly.

"So Paul's still alive?" Brady asked.

"Well, yes, he's alive, but unconscious. I don't think he'll survive."

"So, who's staying?" Chad asked again.

"Leah", she cut him off.

"What? No! I want to come! Seth is my brother!"

"I know that, Leah. But I need someone here who leads those who stay behind. You used to be my Beta, so you'll take the lead. The others who'll stay are Sky, Simon and Chad."

Chad groaned, Sky looked relieved and Simon was upset, but he didn't show it as frankly as Chad.

"Why is Zack allowed to go and I'm not?" Leah complained.

"Because Dave only joined the pack recently. It will be good for him to have a close person around when he's freed."

"Well, maybe Seth will need me, too! He might be close to the pack, but he's closer to me, I'm his sister!"

"Yeah, we had that already. I want you to stay. Period."

"Asshole", she muttered, got up and stormed upstairs to her flat. Jake sighed.

"Okay, everybody. Get some sleep while you can. Tomorrow's going to be stressful."


	18. Chapter 18

_Thanks for the reviews, KittyPimms, I Am Switzerland101 and the two anonymous reviewers! _

_KittyPimms, I felt kind of bad, too, for punishing Dave with probably the worst __imaginable __first week as a wolf. He didn't deserve that, despite his past. Life isn't fair though.  
_

_First 'Guest' (reviewed on 24th), I think telling an author that a scene made you cry is one of the biggest compliments you can make, so thank you very much for that!_**  
**

_Second 'Guest' (reviewed on 25th), well, if you had reviewed two days earlier and told me that you wanted an update on 25th, you would have gotten one. I'm updating extra early today as to not let you wait any longer ;)  
_

* * *

**Revenge**

We needed two cars to get all of us to Seattle. Emmett drove Rosalie's BMW Convertible and had Collin, Brady and Aaron with him in the car while I drove Zack, Nessie and Jake in my Forester. Jake was phased to continue the practice of mind hiding with Dave whenever the pup could risk being in his wolf form. The four-hour-ride to Seattle was mainly boring. After two hours Nessie changed seats with me and I took a nap for the rest of the trip. We reached Seattle at rush hour time and arrived at the airport five minutes after Edward's and Bella's supposed landing. In the arrival hall we met the Denalis and another five minutes later Bella and Edward arrived. I was surprised to see four other persons in dark grey cloaks following them. Two of them were tiny and one was tall and bulky.

"What are the Volturi's hatchet men doing here?" Aaron hissed. Jane smiled coolly at him.

"Are you here to help or do you just want to collect some new pieces for Aro's collection of talented vampires?" I couldn't help but ask.

"We want to pursue the report of a vampire coven that wants to challenge our masters' authority. If the report is proved correct, then I guess we will help", Jane said.

Edward cracked a smile.

"Be honest, Jane, or shall I be honest for you?"

She smiled back at him. The smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Well then, I admit that we might pardon those of the vampires who have a valuable talent and are willing to join our guard."

Zack snarled and Aaron and Brady hissed.

"We will only agree to that if you guarantee that Cora will be ours no matter if she wants to join your guard or not", I claimed. Jake glanced at me. As he was the Alpha, he should be the one to speak for the pack and I should keep quiet, but he seemed to approve of my demand and looked at Jane expectantly.

"Is she gifted?" Demetri asked.

"Yes", Jake replied, "We think she can project feelings. She can definitely project pain and maybe fear and lust as well."

"Lust?" Aaron whispered, apparently wondering when Cora should have projected that of all feelings.

"You wouldn't want a rival, Jane, would you? So leave Cora to us and we'll leave the fate of the others to you", Jake demanded.

"I didn't know you were in the position to claim something. Weren't you asking for help?" Jane asked sweetly.

"Well, you could see it as your reward for the information about this coven's objective", Jake suggested.

"Why do you want her so badly?" Alec wanted to know.

"She tortured our captured brothers the most. She has to pay for that. She has to suffer and she has to die."

"Alright. She's yours", Jane assented and I already wanted to rejoice when she added, "Unless this coven proves to be innocent of the accuse of the attempt to challenge us."

"That wouldn't change that they captured and tortured our brothers!" Jake complained. Nessie put a hand on his arm to calm him.

"Yes, right, but in that case we'll leave and you would have to do without our help", Jane explained. Jake shrugged.

"Even better. Then we get to kill all of them and don't have to share."

Jane smirked and Felix grinned.

"I think we can let you kill a few", Felix offered, "They aren't all talented, are they?"

"No", Jake grinned.

"Alright. We're already drawing the attention. Let's go", Edward suggested. A shiny black Mercedes with tinted windows waited for the Volturi outside the airport. The Denalis took their SUV and Edward and Bella got into my Forester where Jake phased again so that Bella could shield him. Whenever Dave or Seth would phase now, their minds would be protected as well.

"Why were their available seats on the plane for the Volturi, but not for the rest of your family?" I asked on the ride to the mansion where Rosalie waited for us.

"Because they're the Volturi", Edward stated matter-of-factly.

"And how do they want to find out if it's true that these leeches plan to challenge their power? They won't admit it voluntarily."

"Jane knows how to torture a confession from someone."

"Oh. Of course."

"I think Jane only wanted to annoy you by pretending that she doubted the report to be true. We didn't tell the Volturi at first, because Jacob had decided that you would rather waive the Volturi's help. But Aro and I shook hands and then he knew of course. The fact that we didn't tell them makes them believe it. If we had told them right away they would have thought that we made that up to get their help."

"Their help is good, Embry", Bella said, "It makes it easier for us and the alliance also strengthens our still instable friendship with them."

We arrived in a side road close to the mansion of the vampires. There was a little park and Rosalie waited on a park bench. She glanced shortly at the Volturi, but didn't question their presence. After the hellos Edward asked her for the latest news.

"A few more vampires have joined them. There are fifteen in total now. Two are currently in Port Angeles. The rest is at home since their blood donation offices are closed on weekends. I haven't seen a single hair of the wolves since they brought them into the house. Not even through the windows. Are they even still alive?"

"Yes, they are", I replied.

"So what's your plan?" Rosalie asked no-one in particular.

Edward and Jane both started speaking at the same time. They stopped and Edward motioned for Jane to continue.

"Alec will cut off their senses while Bella shields our minds. We will capture each of them without killing them yet. We'll find someone who confesses that they planned to gain the power over America – that's just for the protocol. Eleazar will sort the talented vampires out. The wolves and Felix may kill the others. Then we'll decide which talents are worth an offered pardon. If these vampires agree to join us and Edward confirms that they don't plan to escape afterwards, they'll be pardoned, otherwise killed. I'll be in charge. Nothing will happen without my permission."

"Cora will be ours and we can do with her whatever we want to do?" I checked.

"Yes. As long as you wait until we're done so that you don't mess up our work."

"Alright."

"One last question before we go: Do you know of any non-mental talents they have? Talents that Bella can't shield us from?" Jane asked.

"There's one with a telekinetic gift. He has dark blond chin-long hair and is bulky. He always wears a wife-beater. Then there's one who can paralyze his opponent for a few seconds. I don't know if that's mental or physical. He has short brown hair, he's slender and his eyes are close-set and he probably wears a cowboy belt. Those are all the physical talents we know of."

"Alright. Let's go."

I drove the Forester to the front of the mansion so that Jacob would only have to run a short distance in his wolf form. We were nineteen persons and took Jake into our middle where he crouched down so that no humans would see him. Then Alec sent his sense depriving mist to the mansion. Felix forced the gate open and as we approached the mansion we could hear the confused vampires wondering why they suddenly went blind and deaf and why not even their noses wanted to work anymore. Felix crashed the front door. Three vampires, one of them was Henry, were in the hall.

"Find all of them and bring them down here", Jane ordered, "I'll watch that these three don't escape."

We phased when we were inside the house. I went to search the door to the basement together with Aaron. We found it quickly and ran downstairs. There we found a confused Cora in front of the bars that separated us from Paul, Seth and Dave. Seth and Dave were in their wolf forms and I was appalled how much weight Seth had lost. Cora was lucky that she had been outside the cage when Alec's mist hit her. Otherwise Seth and Dave might have already ripped her into pieces.

'Hey, guys. Are you alright, according to the circumstances?'

'Yes. Now we are', Seth replied. I doubted that he was anywhere near 'alright'. As Dave had already said, his eyes were empty and lifeless. While Aaron watched Cora, I quickly phased back, grabbed the keys from her waist, opened the door to the cage and freed them from their chains. Paul still lied in his corner, unconscious.

"We'll come and get you later", I told him before I phased back. Together we dragged Cora upstairs. She screamed surprised when Aarons teeth dug into her flesh and struggled to get free but she had no chance against four wolves. It only took about three minutes to gather all the leeches in the hall. Jane kept the telekinetic and the paralyzer under control. Every other hostile vampire was held in a headlock by one of our ally vampires. Jane mustered the captives and finally kept her gaze on a female with maroon curly hair. She looked like a human in her mid-thirties. She was trembling.

"Brother, give her back her hearing", Jane begged. The woman stopped trembling.

"I can hear again! I hear heartbeats. What is this all about?" she mumbled.

"Tell us your name", Jane demanded.

"Ni-Nicole. Who are you? What do you want?"

Nicole screamed. I guess Jane tortured her.

"You and the others, did you plan to take the power from the Volturi here in America?"

Nicole hesitated and Jane tortured her again.

"Yes! Yes, we did!" she admitted, screaming.

"Thank you. Eleazar, if you will? And Alec, you can give them all their hearing back."

Eleazar went to the dark blond leech first.

"Strong telekinesis indeed."

He moved on to the next.

"What's going on? Who's there?" Jack, or Giacopo, the other leader besides Henry asked.

"You'll be punished for planning to dispossess us of the power in America", Jane explained.

"The Volturi?" he asked, fear showing clearly on his face and in his voice.

"Well spotted!"

"Cora, Blanche, why don't you do anything!?" he demanded to know. Before either of them could answer, Jane did.

"We brought some old friends with us. Bella Cullen along with part of her family and the wolves of La Push. I assume you've heard of her gift?"

"But… who said we were planning to dispossess you? We never did!" he tried to get out of a tight spot.

"There's no point in denying it, lovely Nicole already admitted it. Now shut up! Eleazar, go on."

"These two have no gifts", he said, standing in front of two males that looked like twins.

"Fine. One for you, Felix, and the other for the wolves."

'Zack, Brady and Collin, you want to kill that leech?' Jake asked. They agreed and tore the vampire apart while Felix ripped the other. Demetri collected the pieces and burned them. The other captured vampires got anxious.

"Please, spare me!" a female pleaded, "They forced me to join them!"

Henry, Giacopo, Blanche and Cora hissed.

"We didn't!"

"Did they?" Jane asked Edward. He shook his head. Eleazar declared the female to be untalented and so she was the next to be killed. He went to Nicole next.

"She's some sort of lie detector, but stronger. She can see someone's true intentions and feelings."

Jane motioned him to go on. Cora was next in the row.

"She can project feelings. I guess that's Cora then."

Jacob nodded and Eleazar went over to Henry.

"He's gifted with authority. People follow him easily."

He went on like this. Every vampire who had no gift was killed immediately, including Giacopo. Finally there were seven talented leeches left: Henry, Blanche, Cora, Andrew, Algernon, Eustace and Nicole.

"We don't need someone with authority. Wolves, you want to have him?" Jane asked.

'Seth, Dave, wanna take some revenge?' Jacob asked.

'Definitely', Dave answered.

'Yeah', Seth agreed hesitatively.

'They're weak. They could need help', I said.

'Okay. Help them.'

I let Seth and Dave make the first lunges. Blanche cried. Jane went to stand in front of her.

"We could need you. If you join us, we'll spare you."

"No, please kill me", she whispered.

"Are you sure? You wanted power, didn't you? The Volturi guard has power. We would welcome you in our midst. Your little gaffe here will never be mentioned again."

She shook her head.

"Not without Henry."

"Fine. Who wants to kill her?"

"I want", Emmett growled, "She's got to pay me for letting me fall out of a tree."

Felix had already made a step towards her, too, but he retreated willingly and left her to Emmett.

"Eustace, what do we do with you? Guys, do you think Aro would want him?" Jane asked her guard colleagues.

"No", Alec stated.

"Maybe", Demetri suggested. She turned to Felix to wait for his answer.

"Rather not."

"No! Please spare me!" Eustace begged afraid, "I want to join you!"

"Kill him, Felix", Jane ordered and went over to Algernon.

"So, telekinesis? Impressive. Do you want to join us?"

"No", he said without a hint of fear.

"Are you sure? You'd be quite powerful, a well-respected member of the guard."

"No."

"Hm. I'll give you time to think about it."

Nicole immediately agreed to join the guard and Edward confirmed that she had no plans to flee.

"Andrew, wasn't it? Causing amnesia is quite an interesting gift, though I'm not too sure when that could be handy for us. What do you think?" she again asked her colleagues.

"Offer him the pardon", Demetri suggested.

"Agreed", Alec said and Felix just nodded.

"Okay, Andrew, you heard that. Do you want to be pardoned and join the guard of the Volturi?"

He hesitated.

"Yes."

Jane looked at Edward expectantly.

"He thought, 'at least for a while'."

Jane narrowed her eyes at the blond leech.

"Fine. But we'll not forget this incident. Maybe our masters let you leave someday, maybe not. Now, Algernon, back to you. Have you made up your mind?"

"No."

His rejection bothered Jane. She obviously wanted him badly in the guard.

"Why not?"

"You killed my mate."

She sighed frustrated.

"What a pity! Such a waste… But I guess then it's only Andrew and Nicole."

"Wait, what about me?" Cora asked.

"The wolves claim your head. And I can project pain just as fine as you. We don't need you."

Cora was scared to death. Maybe she suspected that we wouldn't give her the mercy of a quick death.

"You're the famous Jane?" Andrew asked.

"Yes. Now, Algernon, last chance. Life or death, what do you chose?"

"Death."

He was still sure of himself.

"Who wants to kill him?"

'If I don't get to kill Andrew, who erased my memory of that first fight, I want to kill him instead. Brady, are you in?' Collin barked.

'Sure thing', Brady replied. They ripped Algernon in perfect team work. They've always fought together before Brady left.

"Fine. I guess we're done then. Alec, Edward, Tanya, release Andrew and Nicole."

Edward and Tanya had had them in headlocks and let go of them now while Alec gave them back their senses. They both blinked a few times.

"Alright, wolves, Cora is yours. Do you mind if we stay for the show?"

Nobody of us answered. Jane took that as a No.

'Seth, Dave, you're in charge now. You decide about Cora's fate, if and how you want to torture her. Take your revenge.' Jacob said.

'Well, where's the electro shocker?' Dave asked. Edward passed the question down to Andrew and Nicole. Cora's eyes widened. Andrew hesitated, but he answered the question in his mind and Edward ran to get the device. He offered it to us.

"I'm not going to do this. Maybe one of you should phase back."

'Seth?' Dave asked.

'No, thanks.'

'Zack?'

'Sure. If you don't want.'

'No. Go ahead.'

Zack disappeared into another room and came back in his human form, dressed in his cut-offs. He took the shocker from Edward. I looked away. Though I felt confident that she deserved the torture, I felt uncomfortable. I definitely preferred simply killing the vampires. Unfortunately I couldn't tune out Cora's screams.

'I'll have a look at Paul', I announced and went downstairs. I phased back and kneeled down on the hard ground beside Paul in order to shake his shoulder lightly.

"Come on, wake up, Paul."

He stirred, but didn't open his eyes.

"He'll never wake up again and you know that very well", Edward said from behind the bars. I hadn't even heard him follow me.

"It was worth a try", I murmured, "Do you think he still realizes what's going on around him? That he can hear us right now?"

"Yes, he can definitely hear us. He's happy that Seth and Dave are safe now."

"How long does he have left?"

"I don't know. A day, maybe."

I turned back to Paul.

"Okay, Paul. We'll bring you home to Rachel and your kids, so that you can spend… your last hours in the company of your family rather than this dismal place. What do you think, does that sound good?"

"He would love to hear Rachel's voice again, but he doesn't want his kids to see him like this", said Edward.

"Alright, then we'll keep the kids away from you, Paul. You've got to be a little bit patient, though. Cora's getting what she deserves right now. We can go as soon as they are finished up there."

Edward closed the door to the hallway of the basement. I frowned at him. He looked troubled.

"Are you alright?"

"No, not really. Her mental screams are louder than her verbal ones. They started to tear little pieces off her and burn them."

"Can she feel that? How they're burned?"

"Yes. It's much worse than what Paul is going through right now."

"What do you think about Seth? How great is the damage that Cora did to his soul?" I looked at Edward expectantly.

"Huge. His mind has always been kind, happy-go-lucky and so carefree, even when there was the threat of the Volturi coming to kill us all. But now he's different. He's still kind, that's why he can't bring himself to torture her back himself. But he's also somewhat resigned and can't even be happy to get free at last. His mind is strangely quiet as if he's barely thinking. And it seems he has become withdrawn. He'll need a lot of time to recover from this. Most probably he'll never be the Seth we know again. What exactly did she do to him? I've rarely come across such a tormented mind."

"She tortured him in different ways, broke him and took his pride from him. I don't want to go into detail. That would be embarrassing for Seth."

Good thing my mind hiding worked on Edward, too.

"Okay. I think, since we're already here, we'll stay for some days, visit Charlie, you know. Maybe Jasper can help Seth a little. His plane arrives this evening. And I thought we should ask both Seth and Dave if they want Andrew to erase their memory of the past days."

"Yeah, good idea."

"But actually I'm not sure if that will be enough to cure Seth. The damage goes deeper than what can be erased in his memory."

I couldn't imagine life without the ever happy Seth. He's always been the one to cheer the rest of us up after a stressful hunt or in a difficult time like when Brianna died and Brady left.

Edward breathed out in relief.

"They're done. Let's go leave this place."

I nodded and picked Paul up. The fire in the hall was still burning. The pack had phased back and put on clothes. They all watched me, or rather Paul, anxiously.

"Well then", Jane said, "It was nice to work alongside you for once. Aro will appreciate that. Goodbye."

* * *

_So finally they've been rescued, but Paul and Seth aren't in the best constitution. Can they both be healed? Will Autumn start to speak again? How will Embry's mother take his secret and who's his father? Three chapters are left to answer these questions._

_Please review!  
_


	19. Chapter 19

_Thank you very much for your reviews, I Am Switzerland101, KittyPimms, Loula Lahote and "guest that cried"! _

_I Am Switzerland101, sorry, you'll have to be patient. Embry and his Mom share their secrets in the last chapter.  
_

_'Guest', I'm glad you liked the chapter, even more because I wasn't that content with a few things actually.**  
**_

* * *

**Panic**

"Jane, wait a moment", Edward said and turned to Seth and Dave.

"Do you want Andrew to erase your memories of the past days?"

Dave eyed Andrew hesitatingly.

"Yes", he finally announced.

"Okay", Andrew replied and approached him.

"Give me your hand, I need skin contact."

Dave hesitated again.

"Only the time when I was captured. I don't want to hear that I'm a wolf for the first time a second time."

Zack chuckled at that. Andrew took Dave's hand and released it after about thirty seconds. Dave frowned confused and looked around.

"Where are we? Why are there vampires that we don't attack?" he whispered to Zack.

"They helped us with something", his brother replied without answering his first question. Andrew turned to Seth.

"You too?"

Seth hesitated even longer.

"Okay."

He offered him his hand. Before the thirty seconds were over, he looked at Andrew in shock and stumbled backwards, fear blank on his face. Edward coughed.

"That didn't work. It's carved deep into his soul. He only forgot the outcome that's why he's scared now."

"Oh. I never had that before – that it didn't work, I mean. I could give him back the memory of the outcome if he lets me touch him again."

Jake went to Seth and placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"You're safe now, Seth. Cora's dead. Andrew and Nicole are the only ones who haven't been killed. They got pardoned because they agreed to join the Volturi. And Andrew tried to erase your memory so that you could forget these horrible days, but it didn't work. He can give you back your memory so that you aren't this confused anymore. You would also remember how Cora has been punished for what she did to you. And I think you should remember that. It will help you to recover. So let Andrew take your hand and give the memory back to you. You can trust him. He knows he'll be killed if he doesn't do what is expected of him."

Andrew nodded. Seth took his offered hand reluctantly. His tense body relaxed slightly as Andrew gave him back his memory.

"Can you give me back my memory of that fight in the woods as well?" Collin asked.

Andrew grinned.

"Sure."

He cured him of his amnesia and then the Volturi and their two new members left. The Denalis wanted to stay for a few days to see the rest of the Cullen family. While they and the present Cullens drove back to Forks, the pack drove to Rachel. Collin took care of the kids while we brought Paul into his house and to his bed. Jacob embraced his sister.

"He can still hear what's going on and would love to hear your voice. We'll leave you two alone."

We sat down in the living room and mourned quietly. Only Dave disturbed the silence.

"What the heck happened? Why does it seem as if I'm the only one who can't remember?"

"Because you wanted to forget", replied Zack, "You've suffered, nobody blames you for wanting to forget."

"Was I the only one to suffer then?"

Zack shot Seth a glance.

"No. Seth and Paul did, too."

Dave mustered Seth.

"I guess it's indeed better that I forgot", he mumbled.

Jacob pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Jake! Are there news? Is he okay? Is he safe?" Leah overwhelmed him immediately at the other end of the line.

"Yeah, he's safe. You can stop worrying. The Cullens are on their way to Forks, just wanted to warn you."

"Can I talk to Seth?"

Jake looked at her brother interrogatory and he shook his head.

"No, sorry, you can't."

"Why not? Is he unconscious? Is he in hospital?"

"No, he's okay – physically at least."

"Then why can't I talk to him? Jake, you already forbid me to come along, now hand the damn phone over to Seth!"

Seth held out his hand reluctantly.

"Hey, sis", he greeted calmly.

"Seth! How are you?" her voice, which had been angered and demanding just a few seconds ago, was now soft and caring.

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"But I am. I'm safe, I'm glad that it's over, my wounds have healed, and therefore I'm fine. Can I hand you back to Jake now?"

"Sure", she agreed almost meekly, "Love you, Seth."

"I love you, too."

Jake took the phone again.

"What did they do to him, Jake?" Leah asked on the verge of crying.

"Ask himself. I won't tell you."

Seth shook his head.

"Um, or maybe you shouldn't ask. He'll tell when he's ready. But that might take some time."

"Are you on your way home?"

"No, we're at Rachel's. I'll stay until… it's over, but I'll send the rest home soon. They'll be home tonight. Maybe you could make Seth's favorite meal. And make an extra portion for him, he's got to regain some weight."

"Okay. Give Rachel a tight hug from me and express my sincere condolences, okay?"

"Sure. Bye."

He hung up.

"I don't want to leave, Jake. I want to stay until the end, too", Collin complained.

"Let Rachel have the last hours with him. You can say your goodbyes now."

On the way home Seth sat beside me on the front passenger seat. He stared out of the window and didn't say a single word on the whole ride.

The moment I pulled onto the small parking lot of the Den Leah came out, closely followed by Autumn and the rest of former and current pack members, imprints and their children. Leah threw herself at Seth who endured the tight embrace stoically. Autumn stared at him distressed. Seth pulled away from Leah and approached my imprint. For a moment he just stood in front of her. He had his back to me, so I couldn't see his face. Then he hugged Autumn who gladly hugged him back. He buried his face in the crook of her neck while she caressed his back comfortingly. That actually caused a sting in my chest. A growl rose in my throat but I choked it back down. This was not the time to be jealous of Seth. Leah didn't seem very happy about his behavior either. I guess she didn't understand why he was reluctant to hug her, his sister, but let himself willingly comfort by a girl he only met eight days ago. I didn't understand it either. Did they get so close when she stayed at our house for four days? Finally they pulled apart. Both their eyes glistened with unshed tears. Seth blinked them away and looked around at all of us.

"If you don't stop looking at me so pitiful and scared that I might break down any second, I'll go straight home, okay? I'm fine! If I had been close to breaking down I would have already done that."

Everyone could see that he was nowhere near fine.

"It's good to have you back. We were all worried sick", Sam announced and hit his back gently. Emily couldn't restrain herself from hugging Seth.

"You know we'll be there for you. We want to help you, if you let us."

"I know, Em. You could start helping by distracting me. I want to forget. So badly."

The last two words were barely a whisper. Our attempts to distract him failed miserably. Nobody could pretend that nothing had happened and that everything was all fine and dandy. At least his appetite wasn't affected. He dug in his favorite pasta hungrily. He couldn't eat as much as he usually did though.

"Ugh, I can't bring down anymore food. My stomach must have adjusted to the small portions."

"Take the rest home. Then you can warm it up when you get hungry tonight", Leah suggested.

"Yeah, I'll do that. I'll go now. I'm exhausted."

"I'll drive you", I offered.

"Thanks."

Leah put a big portion of the pasta into a box and hugged Seth again.

"I'm sorry, Leah. Be patient with me."

"Don't apologize for that. Just don't distance yourself from me, because that's how it looked like earlier."

He tightened his embrace.

"I'll try. But to be honest, I feel the urge of locking myself in my room and never come out nor speak to anyone ever again."

Autumn put a slight sad and understanding smile on. Seth's eyes met hers and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. Suddenly I understood. Autumn was the one of us who could best understand him because she had suffered too. Maybe they could help each other. I just had to keep telling myself that Seth would never steal my Autumn from me and that therefore it was okay if they became close.

At home Seth brought his pasta box into the kitchen. When he didn't come back soon I followed him concerned. He stood in front of the kitchen table and stared at a paper in his hand. I stepped closer and recognized Autumn's drawing of Seth. He put it down so that the blank reverse was on top. He turned to me and eyed me for a few seconds.

"Leah really doesn't know?"

I had to think for a moment to grasp what he was referring to.

"No, she doesn't. Jake and I know, but nobody else. I promised you, remember?"

"Yeah. Just thought Dave would spill it."

"Nobody besides me and Jake were allowed to phase and luckily Dave didn't think about it during the rescue. Now he forgot about it. Your secret is safe."

He nodded and his eyes glistened traitorously.

"Maybe you should try to talk to Autumn about it. You know talking to someone helps, don't you?"

"I'll consider it."

"Of course you could always talk to me, too."

"I know. But I don't think I can."

"That's okay. You proved to be one of the most brave and selfless Quileute since Taha Aki's third wife's sacrifice. I'm sure one day you'll gather the courage to face what is now part of your past."

"You're at least as brave and selfless as I am, Embry. Only very few people would willingly stay and suffer together with their friend if they can easily avoid the pain. Thank you for that. As much as I want to forget all of this, I'll never forget your part in it."

I smiled weakly.

"I wish I could have done more. I wish we could have come 24 hours earlier."

"But you couldn't. Good night, Embry."

"Good night."

It wasn't that good of a night for both of us. Luckily Quil spent the night at Claire's. Seth woke up screaming several times, waking me in the process. I went to his room, assured him that he was safe and that Cora was deader than dead and could never harm him again. When he woke up for the third time after having the same nightmare over and over again, he cried unrestrained. I felt helpless, not knowing what I could do to comfort him. I mean, we're really close friends, but he's a man! Caressing or hugging him would be awkward. Maybe he should move in with his sister or mother for a while.

The next morning Jasper and Edward knocked at our door. Seth was still asleep and I was making breakfast.

"Hey, Embry", Edward greeted and came straight to the point, "How is he?"

I invited them in with a lazy swing of my arm.

"Not very well. He had nightmares all night. He's not up yet, but you can wait until he is."

I went back to the kitchen and saved my bacon from burning. Edward and Jasper followed me. I would have preferred if they just sat down in the living room. I didn't hide that thought, but Edward just ignored it.

"So, I heard you finally imprinted", he said.

"Yup."

"On a girl that doesn't speak."

"Yeah."

"Do you want my help to get to know what's running through her head?"

"No", I replied decidedly, "I already know what caused her to stop talking."

Saying that I remembered the evening of the bonfire when she talked to me.

"She talks to you?" Edward asked stunned.

"No. She did once for a night and half a day, but then…", I blocked my thoughts on what happened then.

"What happened then? Did you disappoint her?" Jasper asked.

"No."

"You don't want to talk about it?"

"Well spotted."

Edward raised his eyes to the ceiling.

"He woke up."

Then suddenly his face was alarmed. We heard a thud in the backyard.

"He smelled us and although he recognized us he couldn't stand the smell. He panicked and jumped out of his window, phased mid-air and fled into the forest. Maybe you should go after him, Embry."

I quickly turned off the stove and ran out the backdoor. In the shelter of the trees I undressed and phased. I didn't hear anything from Seth's mind. He must have shut down his walls completely. Aaron and Sky were phased as well.

'Seth, talk to us', begged Aaron.

'Where are you?' asked Sky.

'What happened? Oh, Embry, thank God. The moment Seth phased he didn't block his mind immediately. His mind was completely agitated, looked like he had a panic attack.'

'Leave me alone with him.' I ordered. They obeyed without opposition. I followed Seth's track deeper into the woods.

'Seth? Everything's fine. You know you're safe, don't you? Edward and Jasper just came to visit you. Edward's your friend, remember? And Jasper only wanted to help.'

He didn't answer. I finally found him cowered under some fern leaves. He had his eyes shut tight, he trembled and his heart beat raced like crazy. I wondered how he managed to concentrate on shielding his mind in this constitution. I nudged him gently. He opened his eyes, startled. Maybe he had not only shielded his mind so that nothing left it, but also so that nothing could enter it, which would explain why he was surprised to see me.

'Calm down. Everything's fine.'

'I know. I just can't handle it. The smell… where are Aaron and Sky? I thought they were phased.'

'I told them to phase back.'

Relieved he let his walls break down. It must have cost him quite some energy to hold them up, because I was sure that he actually didn't want me to see them either. Pictures flashed through his mind, too short to see any details, but long enough to see the main aspects. Cora with an evil grin on her face, the electro shocker, Dave in pain, Paul in pain, Cora naked. Together with the pictures the strong memory of Cora's intense scent filled his head.

'It's over, Seth. Cora's dead. Focus on something else. What about your nieces? I know you love them.'

And like I did with Leah once I now pushed a happy memory with the cute twins into my mind. They had been three years old. Seth threw a giggling June up in the air while Collin spun Janelle around. They had had so much fun that day. Then I switched to another memory from the time when Leah was pregnant with the twins. She was so happy, on the one hand because she was still in the 'head-over-heels-in-love-phase' with John and on the other hand because she was overjoyed that she was able to get children. They had run the Den for nearly four years at that time and it had established itself as a well-known address for local specialties.

'More', begged Seth when the memory faded. I rummaged in my head for the happiest moments I shared with Seth. I avoided the time before his father's death, not wanting to make him sad about the loss, and any scenes that involved vampires, although the victory over the Volturi was a very happy moment, too. Slowly his trembling faded and his heart beat slowed down to a normal frequency.

'I fled from a good friend. That's pathetic', he whined.

'It's okay. He understands.'

'Why was Jasper with him?'

'Edward thought he might be able to help you.'

Seth snorted.

'What for? Maybe he can give me a few hours of treacherous peace but as soon as he leaves I'll be just the same broken mess again that I am now.'

'But it would give your troubled mind a break.'

'Then he shall stay the night and keep the nightmares away.'

'Okay. So, how do you want to spend the day?'

'Alone.'

'Seth…'

'Give me just this one day, okay? I know I shouldn't isolate myself, but that's what I want. Just for a day.'

'Fine. But you should phase back then, someone has to patrol.'

'Yeah, sure.'

'See you at the Den tonight?'

'No, I'd rather eat at home.'

I sighed.

'Alright.'

I phased back, called Aaron and Sky that they could continue the patrol and went to Autumn.

* * *

_I would love to have reached 50 reviews when this story is complete. Can you do that for me? That would be awesome!_

_Also, to make the sequel authentic, I have a few questions about a typical North American Christmas:_

_Do you open presents in the morning of 25th?  
_

_Do you do any sort of celebration on 24th?  
_

_Do the children have to recite a poem or sing a song before they're allowed to open the presents?  
_

_When do you usually decorate the tree (because we do it on 24th, but I just read a story where they sat up the tree already two or three weeks before Christmas)?  
_

_What is a typical Christmas meal and when do you have it (24th/25th, lunch/dinner)?  
_

_When do you go the church?  
_

_Anything else that comes to your mind when you think of Christmas traditions.  
_

_Please PM me or leave a review!  
_


	20. Chapter 20

_Thanks for the reviews, 'guest' and I Am Switzerland101!**  
**_

_'Guest', you would be the first to favorite my story :) :) :) I can't wait!  
_

_I Am Switzerland101, thank you for the answers to my questions! That helped a lot!  
_

* * *

**Pushing and nudging**

Despite his words Seth isolated himself on the next day, too, and on the next, and the day after. He got over the panic attacks whenever he smelled a vampire so that Jasper could spend the night at our place to provide a peaceful sleep, but that was the only improvement he made.

I went back to work on Monday and spent every free afternoon with Autumn since my continuous attempts to reach Seth failed. Sometimes when I was at our place with Autumn and I left her for a moment, Seth would come down from his room and sit down beside her. I stayed where I was, glad that there was at least one person he willingly opened himself to, though I wasn't sure if he told her exactly what had happened. I just heard him talking so quietly that I couldn't understand a word and he wasn't ashamed of crying in front of her. They then usually cried together, which made my heart ache and made it difficult to stay away and not go back to solace my imprint. I was afraid that she would start talking to him. I should be the one to make her talk again. I should be the one she trusted most. Though on the other hand, if talking to Seth helped her and made her happy, I couldn't really say anything against it because what I wanted the most was her being happy. What helped me to accept their closeness were the improvements she made in my presence. She smiled more often and even laughed freely. Emily told me though that she still had nightmares.

On Monday morning Jacob called and informed us of Paul's death. Today was Thursday, the day of the funeral. The small reservation church wasn't even half full. It was only the pack with their families, the elders, Zack and Dave's parents, an old woman who had babysat Paul when he was a kid and a colleague from his job in Seattle. The casket stood in front of the altar, surrounded by bouquets and floral wreaths.

Old Quil carried out the ceremony. Rachel had an arm around Noah's shoulders and Lilly was sitting on her lap while Billy held his daughter's hand. She tried to stay strong for the kids, but failed miserably. The funeral took a toll on all of us. The girls and little Noah were crying and I was close to joining them. Autumn and Claire had to pull themselves together at one point because Claire had offered to sing Amazing Grace – she was a great singer – while Autumn played along on the piano. Then Sam and Jared went to the front to say a few things.

"Last Monday, we lost a protector, a husband, a father, a brother and a friend", Sam began, "Paul died before his time. He should have grown old with all its sweets and sorrows. He should have seen his children grow up, scared away Lilly's first boyfriends, taught Noah how to charm the ladies, supported Rachel through labor and welcomed his third child to the world. He should have grown grey hair, gotten a cane and reading glasses and he should have sat on his front porch next to an equally grey-haired Rachel, with their children, children-in-law and a whole bunch of grandchildren surrounding them and listening to him telling stories. He shouldn't have died, least of all in this painful, long drawn-out way. We will cherish the memories that we have of him. We will never forget him and everything that he has done for the tribe. Emily is going to write down his story to preserve it for eternity. It's the story of a protector, a warrior, a hero."

Seth stood up and hurried outside. He couldn't take it anymore. Autumn went after him and I let her go reluctantly. I wiped away a tear that had escaped my watery eyes.

"When Paul was eight, his parents divorced and he moved to La Push with his father", Jared began to speak, "I still remember his first day at the tribal school. He got into a fight with another boy and got suspended for a week. Everyone knows that this punishment didn't stop him from picking more fights in the future. Although we were in the same year, we didn't get close for a long time. When we were fourteen he punched me because I told the girls that all he wanted was to lay them – which was true. However, one day should change his life forever. He was sixteen. Overnight he changed from a boy into a man, from a careless child into a protector with responsibility. He dumbed his friends to join Sam and me in our struggle with the tribe's oldest and most lethal enemies.

As the group of protectors grew, he became some kind of big brother for the younger members. He cared a lot about them and would have protected anyone of them with his life. He was brave and strong, caring and protective, loyal and selfless. He was still a hothead, too, but then Rachel entered his life. He took one look at her and he knew that she was the love of his life, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She tamed his temper and made him an even better man. I dare to say that he was a very loving husband and, despite his philanderer past, a faithful husband, too. He also was a great father. He's been living in Seattle for years now, but he kept in touch and visited often. I'm sure that our friendship would have lasted for several more decades, if only fate would have let us have this time with him. Rest in peace, Paul. We'll watch over your family."

Sam, Jared, Jake, Zack and I had the honor of carrying the coffin. Seth should have been the sixth man but as he had left Zack took over his place. Despite our super strength the coffin felt heavy and the walk seemed to be miles long. We lowered Paul into the grave and his family threw the first shovels of earth and some flowers onto the coffin. Former and current pack members took a shovel each and buried the dark wooden box under six feet of earth. Afterwards the current pack went into the woods. We phased and howled in grief together, saying our final goodbyes to Paul.

* * *

Autumn and I spent the next Saturday at the beach as it was another rare sunny day. She practiced her swimming and was able to hold herself above the water alone this time. We didn't stay long in the water though because it wasn't that warm today. Afterwards Autumn sat beside me, wrapped in a towel, and leaned against me to catch some of my body heat. I had my right arm wrapped around her back. She stared at the incoming waves, deep in thought.

"You've been pensive all day. What's bothering you?"

She turned to stare at me instead of the waves and bit her lip.

"Is it Seth?"

She swayed her head vaguely.

"Do you want me to make some more guesses? Or shall I just drop it?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Okay. Can I ask you a question about Seth?"

She nodded again.

"Did he tell you everything what happened to him?"

Autumn shook her head. My phone buzzed.

"Hi, Mom", I sighed and waited for her to complain that I hadn't called her since I had put her off for 'a few days'.

"Hi, Embry. I've heard about Paul. I'm sorry for that. But didn't you say it were Seth and a guy named Dave who were in trouble?"

"Um, yes, but Paul also was. Though he would have died in a few weeks anyway due to a brain tumor."

"So my assumption that his death was connected to Seth's and Dave's troubles was correct. Are they still in trouble? I saw Seth yesterday and he looked strangely serious."

"Yeah, well, they aren't in trouble anymore. Seth has problems with coming to terms with the things that happened. I'm sorry. I would have called you soon. It's just that…" she cut me off.

"It's okay, Embry. I understand that you need time to cope with Paul's death and, well, if Seth is having a tough time I guess he needs you, too. Promise me to call me when you can focus on our deal again, okay?"

"I don't think Seth will recover any time soon and he's not letting me help him anyway. So… are you free tomorrow?"

Autumn smiled widely at me.

"Yes, I am. Do you want to come over for tea?"

"Yeah, sounds good. See you tomorrow then."

"Bye."

I hung up and sighed. How would my mother take in the fact that her son turned into a giant wolf and fought vampires? Autumn squeezed my hand encouragingly. I heard light footsteps on the sand approaching us and turned to look at the newcomer. It was Seth, which surprised me. He had avoided me. Maybe he just wanted to talk to Autumn.

"Hi, Seth."

"Hi, Embry. Hi, Autumn."

She smiled at him and patted the sand on her free side. He sat down willingly.

"Shall I leave you two alone?"

"No, not today. I wanted to thank you, you know, for giving me alone time with Autumn."

Autumn frowned. She probably wondered why it was such a big deal for me to leave him alone with her.

"Don't mention it! I trust you."

Autumn's frown deepened.

"So, Autumn", Seth said, "Still mute?"

I glared at him. How could he ask her that like that? Did he lose his sensitiveness in the mansion's basement, too? Autumn sighed and nodded.

"Good", he replied. Now I was the one to frown. Good? Seriously? Did he encourage her to stay mute? Autumn glared at him disapprovingly. That confused me even more.

"I can't quite follow you both", I stated.

"Well, you don't have to", Seth replied. Autumn elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Shall I tell him?" he asked her with raised eyebrows. She nodded reluctantly.

"Okay. Autumn and I have a deal. She thinks I should stop hiding from everyone, because it helps her to be around people, especially you."

She elbowed him again and glared at him, blushing deep red.

"Oh. Maybe I shouldn't have admitted the last part. Sorry, Autumn. Well, so I told her that talking to her helped me and I suggested that she should try talking to someone, too. So we made a bargain. If she restarts talking – to one person would already suffice – I restart socializing."

Autumn eyed me worriedly. I caressed her back comfortingly.

"Does that work the other way round, too? If you restart socializing, she has to restart talking?"

"No. I wouldn't want to push her."

"Well, you already do. She wants you to recover and she thinks socializing would help. Now she's under the impression that you only do that if she starts talking and that therefore it's her fault if you don't."

"Yeah, maybe, but she knows that it would help her, don't you, Autumn? I think her silence isn't only her way of hiding. There's more to it."

Autumn blushed again and hid her face in her hands.

"Bull's eye", he muttered.

"Well, then that should be another reason not to push her", I argued.

"I'm not pushing her!" he replied angrily, "I'm talking to you, don't I? Isn't that called socializing?"

"Are you coming to the Den tonight then?"

"No."

"It's your restaurant, remember?"

"Leah's, too. She can handle it fine without me."

"But maybe she would like to see you. You told her you would try not to distance yourself from her", I said softly.

"I know. But facing her is hardest. I'm so ashamed of myself, I can't even face myself in the mirror", he admitted quietly. Autumn caressed his back and leaned against his side.

"You have no reason to be ashamed. You've been so brave! It wasn't your fault! You should be proud of your bravery and of having saved Dave."

"Pride? What's that?" he joked sardonically. Cora broke his pride. He stood up. Autumn grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him back down, but he easily freed himself and shook his head sadly. Autumn watched him walk away. She looked crestfallen.

"We've got to be patient. He shouldn't be pushed either."

She started twiddling with a strand of her hair and stared at her lap. She opened her mouth, hesitated and closed it again.

"You really don't have to do that, Autumn", I assured her. She took a deep breath.

"But I already did once, didn't I?" she said. I held my breath and restrained myself from showing how happy she made me. I couldn't say anything, too scared of saying the wrong things and ruining this huge improvement.

"And I trust you. I need you to keep this from everyone except Seth. Nobody may know that I broke my silence."

"Um, sure, okay. But why?"

She avoided looking me in the eyes.

"My father has to believe that I'm keeping my mouth shut."

"Your father is in jail. He can't hurt you anymore."

I pulled her to my chest.

"But I'm still scared of him. If he ever gets out again…" she trailed off.

"Then I'll be there to protect you. I don't quite understand yet why he needs to think that you keep quiet. What would that change?"

She looked up at me. Tears streamed down her face.

"Shhh, you're safe."

"Promise me not to tell anyone."

"I promise."

"He killed Mom", she whispered. I frowned.

"What?"

"He knows that I know. He threatened to kill me, too, if I told anyone", she cried.

"I would never let him."

"The police think it was an accident. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck. He pushed her, she didn't trip and lose her balance by herself."

I rocked her gently.

"I thought your parents were divorced."

"They were. But my father wanted her back. He wouldn't give up. He had come in the morning that day and she had once more refused to give him a second chance. He left and got himself drunk and then he returned. They fought and he pushed her down the stairs."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? He would have been arrested and gotten life imprisonment. He couldn't have carried out his threat."

"What if nobody had believed me?"

"You should tell the police. With the new incident they'll believe you. That would get him longer into jail than attempted murder and attempted rape."

"No! You can't tell anyone! You promised!" she panicked.

"And I'll keep my promise. I'm just saying that you should consider accusing him. I can protect you. My God, I can fight off lee… much worse creatures than a human with a handgun. You don't have to be scared."

I had nearly slipped a word that she had already heard several times, but now that she spoke she might ask what they were. The first time she had spoken to me I had gotten the impression that she was actually quite curious.

"What are these things you call leeches?"

Damn it.

"Bad supernatural creatures."

"Yeah, I guessed as much. What exactly are they?"

"Well, actually the Cullens are leeches, too. But they are good. You can tell that by the eye color. Golden means good, red means bad. So never trust a beautiful, pale, cold-skinned, red-eyed person. And be careful around the golden-eyed ones. You can never know how good their self-control is."

"You keep evading answering me properly. What. Are. They."

Okay, so now she had totally recovered from her breakdown.

"Cold Ones."

"That's as cryptic as the term leeches."

"But that's the name our ancestors gave them."

"Then tell me what makes them so bad."

"They kill people."

"So they're murderers."

"Murderers with supernatural strength and senses, yes."

"And how can the Cullens be good murderers?"

"They don't kill people."

"Why do the other cold ones kill?"

"Because they feel the urge to kill. They need to kill to survive. The Cullens kill animals instead and learned to resist the urge to kill humans."

"Why do they have to kill to survive? Are they some kind of cannibals?"

"No."

"Embry", she whined.

"You're too young and your soul is too troubled already now. I don't want to add another nightmare to your collection."

"Olivia knows. All the girls know, don't they?"

"Janelle, June, Emma and Lily don't."

"But all the girls my age know."

"And I'll tell you one day. Just not now."

"You already told me that they kill people. What could be worse?"

"A name that's not cryptic to you."

She sighed frustrated.

"Okay, then answer me another question: Why do you care so much about me?"

"Oh, come on, Autumn, we had that question already last time! I can't tell you yet."

"Why not?" she whined.

"Because", I dismissed the subject.

She pouted. I kissed her on the forehead.

"Now, what do you think: Shall we go find Seth to tell him that he has to take dinner at the Den?"

"I thought he shouldn't be pushed?"

"But maybe a nudge in the right direction would be good. Isolation can't be the right course. He knows that himself. That's why he offered you the deal in the first place. He wants to be nudged."

* * *

_Yay, she's talking again! _

_What do you think of the funeral scene? When I first wrote this story, I summarized the funeral in a few sentences because I didn't really know how to make it emotional and authentic. However, the summary seemed way too short and insensitive, so I tried a longer, detailed version yesterday. In the end, I had a lumb in my throat. Was I able to get you into a similar emotional state?  
_

_Please don't hate me for killing Paul! I actually like him a lot and I read a lot of stories about him. I just don't like him with Rachel, but I still wanted to stick to the canon pairings.  
_

_Review, please, I still want to get to 50!  
_


	21. Chapter 21

_Thank you so much for the reviews, Loula Lahote and twice the same(?) guest! You both made my day :)_

_Thank you even more for favoriting and following, guest/TeamPaul15!_

* * *

**Making peace**

After having patrolled the second half of the night and the following morning, I went to Sam and Emily's for lunch to see Autumn before I would meet with my mother. I was nervous about that. While I sat at the table my right leg bounced up and down. Autumn shot me encouraging smiles. Eventually Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Everything alright with you, Embry?"

"Yeah, sure. It's just that I'll go see my Mom later and we'll exchange our secrets. Mine for hers, that's the deal."

"You decided to tell your Mom? Why now? You always wanted to keep her in the dark."

"I've got to make peace with her. I don't want to lie anymore. And if I get to know my father's name in return…"

Sam smiled.

"I hope it's mine."

"Yeah, would be nice to be your brother, but", I shot a quick glance at Autumn, "someday it might get awkward."

Dating the daughter of my brother would be awkward, wouldn't it? Even if he was just my half-brother and she was just adopted.

"I think it's the most likely solution", Emily said, "I mean, Joshua Uley was jerk enough to betray his wife, wasn't he? Unlike Billy or Quil's father, and least of all Harry."

"Yeah, whatever, that's not what I'm worried about."

"Come back here afterwards and tell us the outcome, will you?" Sam asked.

"Sure", I said standing up. Autumn followed me to the front door.

"Good luck", she whispered.

"You know Sam can hear you whisper. Be more careful around wolves if you don't want them to know that you talk to me", I whispered back.

Her eyes widened.

"Don't worry, he won't tell anybody", I said, still in a low voice, but loud enough that Sam could understand my words, "Oh, I think now he's coming."

Sam stepped out of the kitchen and closed the door behind him. He smiled warmly, but Autumn looked worried nonetheless. Sam stroked her back.

"I appreciate that you talk to someone. But why don't you want others to know?"

"She doesn't want her father to hear about it", I answered for her.

"Okay, well, I won't let it slip, not even to Emily. She might get jealous that you're not talking to her, too."

Autumn looked guilty. Sam ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry. I can totally understand why you chose Embry over us."

She frowned, possibly wondering why he would say that.

"Well then, I have to go. See you later!" I said and left after hugging Autumn. Ten minutes later I parked on the side of the road in front of my mother's house. My heart bumped my ribs with every beat. Somehow, this was worse than telling Autumn. I rang the doorbell, something I hadn't done in ages. Mom opened the door nearly instantly. She smiled nervously. Good, then it wasn't just me. We hugged each other rather stiffly and she invited me in.

"I've made a cake. You want some?" Mom asked.

"No, thanks, I just ate. Maybe later", I replied. She handed me a coffee and sat down opposite of me.

"So, how are we going to do this?" she asked.

"Someone will have to start, I guess."

"Would you mind to start then? I actually don't trust you to stay true to your word if I spill the beans first."

"And I'm supposed to trust you? I actually am afraid that you'll freak out when you hear my secret and that I won't get to hear yours anymore then."

"Well then, I'll write down your father's name", she said getting up and scribbling on a piece of paper. Then she folded it and placed it under the vase in the middle of the table.

"Now you can tell me and if I'm not in the constitution to tell you myself later you can take the paper."

So I had to trust her that she really had written down the name of my father and not some nonsense. I reminded myself that I wanted to make peace, so I gave in.

"Okay. You know the Quileute legends, don't you?"

"Yeah, along general lines. I've never paid much attention to them when they were told because I always liked the Makah legends better. Why? What do they have to do with you?"

"Well, …", I took a deep breath, "they're true."

"Embry", Mom said in a warning voice, "if you want to pull my leg and tell me a pack of lies then we're finished and you can go straight home and mustn't ever see me again!"

"No, Mom, I'm not lying! The legends are true! I am a shape-shifter. I can turn into a wolf."

Mom snorted.

"I can prove it. Come on, let's go outside."

She got up reluctantly and followed me out across the backyard and into the woods. Hidden from any curious neighbors, I turned around.

"I've got to undress if I don't want to shred my clothes. Could you turn around?"

She chuckled while she turned.

"Not like I haven't seen you naked before."

Yeah, back when I was four maybe…

"There will be a ripping sound when I phase and then you can turn back around", I explained while I pulled off my clothes, "I should warn you. I'm not a normal-sized wolf. I'm huge. But you don't have to be afraid. It's not like what you hear about werewolves in the legends of the pale-faces where they can't control themselves while in wolf form. I can control my wolf just like my human body. Okay? So please don't run away screaming. There's no need for that. I would never hurt you."

She didn't respond. I phased and lied down immediately to appear less intimidating. Mom had jumped at the sound of my phasing and turned around slowly. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She took a few steps back and I already feared she'd run.

"E-Embry?" she stuttered. I nodded my head.

"Oh my god", she breathed and fainted. I quickly phased back, got dressed and carried her back into the house. I put her down on the sofa, placed a wet cloth on her forehead and got a glass of water for when she woke up. Then I sat down on the other sofa and waited anxiously. I resisted the urge to take the paper from under the vase. I wanted to hear it from her. I didn't have to wait long, but it seemed like hours to me. In fact it might have only been a few minutes. When she opened her eyes she still seemed a bit dizzy. She locked eyes with mine and I could see the realization hitting her. She sat herself up, but raised a hand to her head immediately and sank back down. She reached for the glass of water and sipped at it.

"Could you say something?" I asked uneasily.

"Well, that was a bit of a shock, actually."

"Yeah, well, imagine my shock when I first phased without knowing what was going on with me."

She made another attempt to sit up and managed it this time.

"So, you're a werewolf."

"A shape-shifter, actually."

"And that's why you don't age and why you're so strong and tall?"

"Yes. If I stop phasing I'll restart aging."

"How did you become one? Have you been bitten?"

"No, it's in my genes. I've inherited the gene from my father."

"He's been one, too?" she asked in disbelief.

"No. The phenomenon skipped his generation. But Ephraim Black, Levi Uley and Quil Ateara III have been wolves, too."

"And why does being a werewolf – shape-shifter, whatever – involve sneaking out at nights and ditching school?"

"Remember the rest of the legends. We're there for a reason."

"Um, yes, there was something… some demons… cold ones, that's what they're called, right? So they really exist, too?"

"Yes. We protect the tribe from them."

"What exactly are they?"

"Vampires", I whispered, afraid to make her faint again. She gulped.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I would."

"And you think you can fight them? Isn't that suicidal?"

"I already fought and killed a lot of them. We're designed to kill them. We're strong and fast and we have the advantage of usually outnumbering our foes, because vampires rarely travel in large groups. They're loners. We killed so many in the past fifteen years, yet Paul is the only loss we had to suffer. And he didn't die in battle. He wasn't a wolf anymore, he had restarted aging. There was an abnormally large coven that caused us all the trouble in the last three weeks. They captured Paul, Seth and Dave, tortured them and wanted to force them into serving them as some kind of guard dogs. They are venomous. If they don't suck out all the blood from a human, and that's what they usually do because they can't stop once they started, the venom will turn the human into one of them. We smell disgusting to them, that's why we're usually safe from being bitten. If a vampire bites a shape-shifter, the shape-shifter won't turn into one of them. He'll die. Since Paul wasn't able to phase anymore, he was of no use to them and so one of them bit him. Some of the vampires had powerful gifts, which was why we couldn't save them immediately. We had to gather some help and then it was already too late to save Paul alive and too late to save Seth unbroken."

It felt good to talk to someone not involved in the pack about it. At some point Mom had switched seats to sit beside me and stroke my back. I was relieved that she wasn't afraid to touch me now. It made me want to tell her more.

"The Cullens are vampires, too, but they learned to resist the urge of drinking human blood. They feed from animal blood instead. Living close to the reservation they caused the gene to surface. Bella, you remember her, don't you? Well, she fell in love with one of them, married him, got pregnant and was turned into a vampire herself when the baby, which was half vampire, half human, nearly killed her. Now, there's something called imprinting. When we find our soul mate, we imprint on her. It's a bit like love at first sight, but it doesn't have to be romantic right away as we can imprint on a baby, too. That's what Jacob did. He imprinted on the kid of Bella and Edward. That's when we finally made peace with them. They helped us to save Seth and Dave."

Mom shuddered.

"I think I'm glad that the Cullens don't live here anymore. Tell me more about being a wolf. If I remember correctly, the wolves in the legends had some kind of mind connection, hadn't they?"

"Yes, that's right. We can hear each other's thoughts. Although the legends claim that no thoughts could be hidden from our pack mates, most of us learned how to hide thoughts. It takes years to learn that, but it's worth the effort. The lack of privacy was quite bothering in the beginning. Like in real wolf packs one of us is the Alpha. He can command the others to do something and they have no choice but to do it. It's hard to imagine for a human, I guess. Sam, who was our first Alpha, forbade us to tell anyone our secret. When Jake tried to tell Bella, he literally couldn't. The words just wouldn't slip. Of course the Alpha only uses this power for the sake of the pack. When Bella was pregnant, Sam thought that the baby inside of her had to be killed because nobody really knew what she carried at that time. Jake was against it, as Bella would have been killed, too. Sam ordered him to obey, but Jake refused and made himself an Alpha. He was able to do that because he actually is our rightful Alpha, as Ephraim Black was the Alpha, too. It's also obvious from his build. He's the biggest of all of us. So the pack got separated. Seth and Leah joined Jake's pack and Bella and her kid stayed alive. When Jake imprinted on the baby, Sam had to give in, because our most important rule is that we never harm the imprint of one of us. Losing your imprint is worse than any other loss one could possibly imagine. Brady lost his imprint last year. He's been living in the woods ever since and adjusted to the life of an animal. Well, back to Jake and Sam. When the Cullens left, Jake went with them and the pack got reunited under Sam. But then Sam decided to stop phasing. Jake became our Alpha again, but it's difficult to lead a pack from the distance and so I became his deputy."

"You lead the others?"

She looked proud.

"Yeah. But I think I'll stop phasing within the next two years. I imprinted on Autumn."

"The mute girl? Didn't you say she isn't your girlfriend?"

"She's neither mute nor my girlfriend. But hopefully she will be the latter one day. She's just not ready for a boyfriend yet. Remember how I said that she was different from the other girls I used to date? That she was special? That's because I know she's the woman of my life, my soul mate, my better half…", I trailed off.

"That's nice. I like her."

"So… your turn. Who's my father?"

She stiffened. I had thrown her off her guard. She took a deep breath.

"Joshua Uley."

I chuckled.

"What's so funny about him?"

"Well, we always guessed and also wished that it was him. His marriage was screwed anyway and it would have been a bit shocking to hear that Billy Black or Quil Ateara had betrayed their wives."

"Yeah, he was a jerk. I was blind to that. He never told me that he was married. I always thought you were so much like him – not able to hold up a relationship over more than a few weeks, a rebellious teenager, … But you're so much better than him."

"Why, thanks."

"Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Um, yes, why not. I just have to call Sam, because I told him I'd come around to tell them how it went."

"And you can't wait to tell him that you're siblings, right?"

I chuckled.

"Maybe."

* * *

Much to my relief Autumn kept talking to me when we were alone. She also started talking to Seth who adhered to his side of the deal. First he started taking dinner with the pack at the Den. A few weeks later he started to work again, though he just cared for the management of the Den and never stepped in for a sick waiter like he used to do before the incident. He even rejoined the pack on patrol, having been convinced that killing vampires could help him get over the humiliation and pain he had suffered by other vampires. The Cullens stayed for two weeks in Forks. When Jasper left, Seth's nightmares returned. Despite his return to a somewhat normal life he stayed withdrawn, unsmiling and quiet. He didn't flirt nor date, he didn't even look at girls. He developed a dislike to being touched and attached great importance to his personal space. Only Leah, his Mom and Autumn were allowed to enter it, though it was obvious that Autumn was the only one he actually felt comfortable about hugging.

Brady went back to the wilderness, but he promised to return whenever the worst came to the worst and he talked to us over the mind connection more frequently than before.

We never found the two vampires who had been in Port Angeles during the rescue. I guess they fled. When Jake and the Cullens left, Rachel and her kids moved to Hawaii where they found a house close to her sister's.

Zack stayed true to his word and obeyed willingly, though sometimes his rebellious side would break through and he would argue before executing an order. Dave was rebellious, too, but my Alpha voice was strong enough to make him obey.

Mom and I got along so much better now that there weren't any secrets between us anymore. She was always willing to lend me an ear for my worries.

Autumn's father hadn't been convicted yet and I hated that he wouldn't be convicted for murder like he deserved. I could never act against Autumn's wish and tell the police the truth about her mother's death and she certainly wouldn't tell them herself. I was hoping that, as soon as her father was officially sentenced to a lot of years in jail, she would get over her fear of him and start talking to others besides Seth and me.

* * *

_So, this is it. If you were waiting for Embry and Autumn to get together now, please take a look at the genre. I never intended this to be a romance. I know she still doesn't know about imprinting and what the cold ones really are. And her father's lawsuit has yet to come. I might write a sequel about Embry and Autumn's romance some day, but I don't have enough ideas for that at the moment. I wouldn't want it to be run-of-the-mill._

_However, there _is_ a __**sequel**__ that is close to being finished. It's about Seth, his imprint and his struggle with his trauma, starting one year after the captivity. It's called _**Wolf's Den - Sunny Side Up****_. _**

_Please leave me just a tiny **review** on what you thought of the whole story. I promise to reply to every signed review. Sadly, I won't be able to reply to anonymous reviews, but I'll be happy to get them nonetheless!_

**_Finally, I want to thank all of you who kept on reading this far. I would be happy to welcome you back for _****Sunny Side Up**_**. Please give it a chance.**_

_Here's a small excerpt from the first chapter:_

* * *

A short girl of about sixteen with dyed blonde hair passed the bar on the way to the restrooms. I caught her smiling at me from the corner of my eye and mechanically smiled back, locking eyes with her for just a second. In that second, I momentarily forgot about my misery. I got a warm feeling in my chest and my thoughts centered on the girl with the beautiful fawn brown eyes. Her smooth pace faltered a little as if she had noticed something too, though I was sure I hadn't given away anything.

Then suddenly reality came crashing back down on me. I had just imprinted. How was I, a broken man, an emotional wreck, supposed to make her happy? I didn't deserve her. She would be better off without me. Yeah, that would be my way to make her happy: staying away from her. Though imprinting meant that we were the perfect match. We were meant for each other. But that certainly concerned the old Seth. He was meant for her, he could have made her happier than any other man.

That thought made me angry. I was angry with myself, because it was my fault that old Seth was gone. It was my fault that my imprint would never be as happy as she could have been with him. I wanted her to be happy so badly and, being the reason for her being not as happy as possible myself, the anger turned into fury. I started shaking and accidentally broke a wine glass in my fist. I didn't care about the small cuts in my hand or the shards on the counter and I didn't notice that my imprint had turned back to me at the sound of breaking glass. I had to get out of here. I hadn't phased involuntarily in over ten years, but now I knew I couldn't fight it.


End file.
